Winter blossoms
by Shiawase na Seikatsu
Summary: First the flowers fall. When the branches are bare the spirit particles start to float away until the tree disappears. "It's alright." Karin would have said "I'll help you plant a new one." But she wasn't there. A mere memory in his head. HitsuKarin AU
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't on bleach or any of its characters**

**Okay, I know that I really should be working on my other fanfiction: Emotionless, but I had written this chapter previously and I just read through it and I really liked it. **

**Just to tell people, I usually post or update about once a week on quite random days so you can look forward to that.**

**Anyway, this is a HitsuKarin pairing and I hope that you like it. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Winter was almost here. Hitsugaya Toshirou closed his eyes as the cold, crisp air blew into his face. He momentarily forgot about the stacks of paperwork that threatened to overwhelm him as he drank in this peaceful moment of silence.

"TAICHO!"

Replacing his trademark scowl back onto his face, Toshirou opened his eyes to glare at his supremely annoying fukutaicho.

"What do you want Matsumoto?"

Matsumoto grinned

"Taicho, you need to go out and do something fun. You've been working here for days."

Toshirou scowled

"If only you'd help me do the paperwork, it wouldn't take so long."

Just then a message flew into the room in the form of a hell butterfly. Toshirou held out his finger almost automatically. In his mind, work would always top over personal feelings.

"Taicho and fukutaicho meeting held in the 1st division office. Please report there after completing all paperwork. "

Toshirou glared at Matsumoto, that announcement had just brought them back to their argument. Unsurprisingly, the 10th division's lazy fukutaicho had already left the office, leaving the annoyed taicho to finish the towering stacks of paperwork himself.

***

5 hours later, the 10th division's taicho and fukutaicho stumbled into the 1st division's office, mumbling profuse apologies to the soutaicho for being late. The meeting had been postponed for 3 hours as all the taichos and fukutaichos waited for 10th division to finish their paperwork.

Naturally, Matsumoto had appeared 2 hours earlier half drunk as she had been drinking sake with Hisagi and Shunsui. She and Toshirou had hurriedly finished off the remaining stack of paperwork before the others got tired of waiting.

Yamamoto soutaicho frowned slightly but started the meeting.

"You have all called here as there has been a dramatic change in riatsu at Karakura town"

Ichigo's eyebrows travelled up his face slightly as he processed this information.

"As you all know," the soutaicho continued. "This isn't usually a big problem but since Aizens betrayal to soul society I will be taking extra precaution and sending a taicho and two fukutaichos to investigate. This riatsu is not completely unfamiliar, it belongs to 5th division taicho Kurosaki's little sister whom is made the legal guardian for Karakura town. If you all remember, Kurosaki Karin made a promise not to train her shinigami powers too hard for in fear of crushing many vulnerable humans with her possibly high riatsu. She told us that if her riatsu is rising very high, then it will mean that she needs to become stronger, therefore accenting a danger in Karakura town. Therefore, we believe that she is trying to send a message to us through her alarming change in riatsu which is her only form of communication to soul society. Anyway, I have already chosen a taicho whom I believe will be suitable for this mission."

Ichigo straightened up expectantly.

"Hitsugaya taicho, you will be excused from paperwork while on this mission. Please be ready to leave the senkai gate at midnight tonight. That way you will arrive at the Urahara Shoten in the living world at approximately 7am in the morning."

Ichigo exploded

"WHAT! SINCE WHEN DID THIS MIDGET KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT KARAKURA TOWN?"

Toshirou's eyebrow twitched

"Who are you calling a midget?" He asked quietly.

Ichigo's knees buckled slightly as the force of Toshirou's unleashed riatsu weighed him down. The room dropped a few degrees lower.

Yamamoto soutaicho didn't even twitch a finger though his facial expression crossed between slightly annoyed and slightly ticked.

"Kurosaki taicho, you do not doubt my decisions I hope?"

Ichigo scowled and replied

"The heck I don't. Toshirou doesn't even have any links to Karakura town, why must he get to be chosen when there is in fact a person in this room who has every link and every reason to be able to go. I'm friggin stronger than him!"

Yamamoto replied in his cold, bored demeanour. By now, Toshirou had controlled his riatsu.

"Hitsugaya taicho has been chosen as he has more battle experience and is extremely skilled in masking his riatsu if an enemy is near. Whereas you would just charge and leave all caution to the wind. He is also very familiar with Karakura town as he has previously been sent on many missions there before."

"But this is my sister we're talking about!"

"That is another reason why I cannot send you to investigate. If Kurosaki Karin becomes a threat to soul society, you may not wish to punish her whereas Hitsugaya-taicho will bestow any punishment with hesitation."

Ichigo muttered under his breath.

"The heartless jerk."

He then gritted his teeth and stood back into place. He had no more defence. Ichigo stuck his hands where he assumed his pockets would be, but as he was wearing shinigami robes, he had none. His scowl deepened.

Yamamoto continued his speech as it was before Ichigo had interrupted.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, you may choose two fukutaichos to accompany you on this mission. Please make your decisions now."

Toshirou frowned. There was one fukutaicho whom he knew that he had to take though he wasn't really looking forward to her company. Nevertheless, she was strong, extremely trustworthy and the only person he could really confide in.

"10th division fukutaicho Matsumoto Rangiku."

Matsumoto grinned

"Thanks taicho, now I can finally go shopping."

Hitsugaya gave a slight nod and proceeded to choose the next fukutaicho.

"Pick me! Me! Pick me!" Yachiru was squealing and jumping up and down in front of him. Toshirou ignored her and spoke.

"6th Division fukutaicho Abarai Renji."

Yachiru sighed loudly,

"Awww, but Whitey-chan, I wanted to buy more lollies."

Choosing to ignore her once again, Toshirou turned to Renji,

"Abarai, I chose you because you are familiar with Karakura town and you have a strong bankai. So do not let me and yourself down with any cocky or lazy attitude. Understand?"

Renji nodded and yawned loudly, earning a glare from Byakuya,

"Yep. No problem, Hitsugaya-taicho."

Yamamoto soutaicho nodded his approval of Toshirou's choice,

"You are all dismissed. Hitsugaya-taicho, fukutaichos Matsumoto and Abarai, I would like to discuss your mission. Please stay behind."

The other taichos and fukutaichos all bowed respectively and left, Ichigo rather reluctantly, leaving the three alone with the soutaicho.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, as leader of the mission, I would like to explain the main points of this mission and clarify what to do."

He paused and eyed each shinigami before continuing,

"Your main job is to find out the problem and solve it. Track down Karin Kurosaki and make sure that you keep Karakura town, the humans and any stray souls away from trouble. It is to my belief that Aizen is planning revenge to soul society so you must exterminate any possible risk at all times. Be aware of everything that is happing around you. Understood?"

The three nodded their affirmative.

"You may have a time limit of three months as soul society will be at a loss without three of its main ranked officers. I trust that you understand all these rules and arrive here as soon as your time is up or even before the limit. Hitsugaya-taicho, as soon as you've completed your mission I expect a report due the next day. I will now leave you three to prepare. Dismissed."

_Karin, _Toshirou thought _Karin, what harm may fall upon Karakura town that requires a human with your shinigami level to need to become stronger?_

As he exited the room, Toshirou's thoughts became more and more complicated and less about the complication at hand.

Unfortunately for Toshirou, Matsumoto noticed this.

"Taicho, you're not thinking about Karin are you?"

Receiving no reply, she grinned,

"Awww taicho that's so sweet. Don't worry, we'll see her soon."

"Matsumoto, I have no idea what you are talking about and quite frankly, I don't really care."

Matsumoto pouted

"Taicho don't be mean. Fine, I won't say anything more then."

Renji just rolled his eyes and headed off to his division.

"Later peeps, I'm getting ready for our new mission."

"See you soon, Abarai."

"Bye Renji!"

Toshirou shook his head as he headed back to his own division with Matsumoto walking not far behind him.

_I really do hope that everything is okay...Karin, I will see you soon._

**Like it? Hate it? Please tell me your opinion by clicking the button below. It will only take up about a minute of your time. By the way, who knows where to buy the bleach movie dvd's? If you know then could you please PM me? Thanks.**

**Looking forward to some reviews. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Okay, this is chapter 2 Of Winter Blossoms and it's all from Karin's point of view**

**It's a bit of a short chapter, sorry. I'll try write longer ones soon.**

**By the way...**

**HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY! HAPPY APRIL FOOLS! EAT LOTS AND LOTS OF CHOCOLATE AND PLAN LOTS OF EVIL TRICKS!**

**Muahahahahaha....**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The wind danced through the trees, leaves rustling. A bird soared upwards from a nearby bush and flew into the cool air, chirping cheerfully. The sun was peeking out from the cracks in the clouds, illuminating the perfect scene below, softly glowing.

The day was absolutely beautiful.

Karin Kurosaki tore across the field of grass, loving the exhilarating feel of freedom and the rush of wind through her shoulder length black hair.

Karin, of course, was spending the beautiful autumn day the way she spent all her days, tearing up grass on a soccer field and kicking a pumped up, worn out soccer ball repeatedly into the goal.

The ball bounced off Karin's foot and soared through the air in a graceful arc. The goalie jumped high in the air, trying in vain to stop the ball as Karin scored for the umpteenth time. Everyone watched, mesmerised as the ball slipped through the keepers gloved fingers and landed swiftly into the net. Karin swung her arms up into the air, fingers displaying the victory sign. She laughed, her sound carefree and exuberant.

This was by far one of the best training sessions that she had ever had. The last time she had been this happy was when...

Karin's laughter stopped abruptly and she turned her head away from all her teammates.

_The last time I was this happy was when... was when HE had been here. He, Hitsugaya Toshirou, soccer legend...midget._

Karin smiled despite herself. She had tried to stop thinking about him but now the memories were returning. He had left her 5 years ago and had never come back, she had lost all hope of seeing him again. Karin could still remember her last few minutes with him.

_(Flashback)_

"_Toshirou, is it true that you have to leave?"_

_Toshirou sighed and ran his hands through his snowy white hair._

"_Look Karin, I'm a shinigami taicho and I have my job and my reputation to keep up. My mission here in Karakura town is over, now I must leave."_

_Karin glared at him_

"_So you come here, become my best and only friend and then leave? What kind of moron does that?"_

"_I don't have a choice in this matter Karin, you must understand that. I will come back, promise."_

_Karin stared at him for a moment._

"_You must come back then, come back and see me. We can be best friends again. Toshirou, promise?"_

_Toshirou's eyes softened_

"_I promise Karin."_

_Then Karin's eyes took on a panicky look._

"_But, when will you come back?"_

_His face melted into a rare smile as he climbed onto her windowsill and prepared to leave._

"_Soon. I'll be back soon."_

_(End flashback)_

He had been her friend, her one and only best friend. Ever since that fateful day when he had saved Karin from a hollow she knew, she just knew that they would be friends. Friends for eternity.

_But he had to break that promise._ Karin thought bitterly. _He broke the promise that he made. I wonder if he even remembers me. I'll bet that he went back to soul society and forgot everything about us._

_I'm probably just thinking about him because i know that he'll be fighting soon, very soon. Ever since..._

"Oi, Karin!"

Karin rearranged her facial features so that she looked happier and whipped around to face her teammates.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Karin, come over here. We need you as team captain to work on some tactics. We've got a championship to win!"

_Train, _Karin thought grimly. _I need to train my shinigami skills as well as my soccer skills in order to win. I need to become stronger. _

Karin jogged over to her teammates.

"Okay team, let's try a few more drills, then we'll play another match. We need to be ready to whoop the opposition's butts. Half the team will start off on the other end of the field practising offense while I'll work with the rest of the team down here practising defence. Now move it!"

***

By the time Karin finished soccer practice it was well past 8:00. Yuzu would be in tears at her absence and her father would be praying to Masaki. Ichigo of course would...

_Oh yeah, _Karin rolled her eyes. _Ichigo left to become 5__th__ division Taicho in Soul Society. Of course, Yuzu and dad don't know that. They think that he is at some faraway college._

Karin lingered for a minute as she passed the river. It was so peaceful, so beautiful, so... memorable. Up on the railing, overlooking the city, that was Toshirou's place. But here, by the calm, flowing waters of the river, this was Karin's place.

_This river, this is where my mother died._

Karin often came here after the death of Masaki. This place felt safe to her, as if Masaki's spirit would watch over her here.

Sighing, Karin continued the short walk home.

"Yuzu! Dad! I'm home!"

Karin kicked the door open.

"Karin! Oh I was so worried about you!"

Yuzu immediately switched to motherly mode.

"Why are you home so late today? Remember what I said about the dangers at night? Oh and you've missed dinner too! Karin that's the third time this week, you should know better!"

"Sorry Yuzu, I was at a late soccer practice."

Karin offered her twin a hug, Yuzu accepted gratefully. Just then, Isshin walked into the room.

"Oh Masaki! Our beautiful Karin has finally arrived home! And what's this I see? Hugging Yuzu? Oh the joys of young sibling love!"

Isshin pretended to wipe fake tears from his eyes.

Karin kicked him into a wall.

"Shut up dad!"

Yuzu hurried to get an icepack.

"Karin!" Her tone was disapproving.

"What did I tell you about kicking our father?"

Karin shrugged

"He deserved it."

Yuzu sighed and began tending to Isshin who was sprawled on the ground bawling his eyes out.

"What did I ever do to deserve this cruel treatment from my very own daughter?"

Karin shrugged once more and began ascending the staircase up to her room.

Ever since Ichigo had left, Karin had taken up residence in his room. The once plain walls were now covered with famous sport stars or occasionally a picture of Karin with Yuzu, Ichigo, Isshin or her soccer team.

Karin grabbed her pyjamas and hurried into the shower. As the warm water soothed her aching limbs, Karin travelled back to her earlier thoughts.

_Toshirou, Ichigo and all the other shinigami are going to be fighting war. And...And it's all my fault. Hell, if I hadn't of met those stupid..._

"Karin! Come quickly! I've just heated up your dinner and its going to get cold. I'm not heating it up again if it does get cold!"

Karin sighed, she wasn't really hungry but she didn't want to disappoint Yuzu.

"I'm coming! Just gimme a sec!"

_Toshirou..._ Karin thought as she quickly dried and changed. _Toshirou...enjoy your last few weeks of freedom cuz it's not gonna last._

* * *

**Now the past of Karin and Toshirou is revealed (kinda). In case of the people who didn't really get it, when Toshirou saved Karin from a hollow, they became best friends. Karin knew that he was a shinigami though (Of course) but then Toshirou completed his mission in the real world and had to return to soul society. But before leaving, he promised Karin that he would return soon. 5 years passed and since Toshirou still hasn't come back, Karin feels betrayed. **

**Phew, that was a long authors note, sorry if it bored you.**

**Please press the button below and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay! Tis another chapter of Winter Blossoms!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Okiessss!**

**I feel like going hyyyyypo.**

**LOL**

**Just bear with me okay peeps?**

**Oh yeah, theres a legend in this story nows:**

**BOLD = Zanpakuto speaking**

NORMAL = Normal talking

_ITALICS = Thinking_

**Oh yeah!**

**I need a few Japanese names, their first name and last name. For boys and girls in Karin's soccer team and her class. Any name will be greatly appreciated. I will try to use every single name that you give me.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The hours passed slowly for Toshirou. With no paperwork to do, he shunpo'ed onto the roof to capture the last few rays of sun in a peaceful silence.

He placed Hyourinmaru down carefully next to him and lay onto his back staring into the sky.

"**You are troubled master."**

Toshirou sighed.

"I'm just confused. Karin is strong. She is more than capable in defending Karakura town from the passing hollows. She said so herself that she wouldn't try to get stronger to confuse us. She said that the only reason for her riatsu to increase is if she really needs to become stronger. I'm really confused. What could possibly happen at Karakura town that would require a shinigami of her level to need to become stronger?"

Hyourinmaru listened to Toshirou ramble on with amusement. He noted that Toshirou didn't even seem to process what he was saying. His master was too deep in thought to really care much for his conversation with his zanpakuto.

Unfortunately for Toshirou, Hyourinmaru knew exactly what, or in this case, whom he was thinking about.

All of a sudden, Toshirou could visualise Hyourinmaru smirking.

"**Master, you seem extremely worried for this young girl."**

Hyourinmaru was teasing him. As a child prodigy, Toshirou knew that much. He frowned.

"Karin is my best friend Hyourinmaru, I left her years ago and never returned. I should have returned sooner but my duties as a taicho have been so busy lately... I know that she'll never forgive me for that. I am thankful to Yamamoto soutaicho in selecting me for this mission so I may make amends to Karin. Do you not think so Hyourinmaru? As you're part of my spirit, you should know better than anyone."

Hyourinmaru's amused smirk grew even wider. Obviously, his master need to sort of his feelings for this girl.

"**Yes, of course master. I may know more than you think..."**

Hyourinmaru's voice was thickly layered with mocking sarcasm. If dragons could laugh, Hyourinmaru would be in stitches, laughing at his master's obliviation. But of course, Hyourinmaru was a part of Toshirou's soul so he would never do anything even as childish as laughing.

_Karin,_Toshirou thought to himself. _Karin Kurosaki..._

…

Matsumoto stood bored as she waited impatiently for her taicho to appear.

She saw him, a little figure in the distance, but swiftly getting closer. As he neared, she noticed that his face was twisted into an annoyed scowl, deeper than usual.

_Either he's found the sake that I tried so hard to hide or he's talking to his zanpakuto. Matsumoto mused._

Toshirou arrived, quite out of breath and nodded once to each shinigami present to acknowledge them. Seeing as he didn't flash her a signature deadly glare, Matsumoto grinned.

_I'll take the latter._

"My deepest apologies, Yamamoto soutaicho, for running late. I lost track of the time."

Yamamoto soutaicho nodded.

"It's okay Hitsugaya taicho. But do not make it a habit, it will ruin your reputation and I may have to denounce you from your position as a taicho of the Gotei 13."

Toshirou paled slightly.

"I understand."

The soutaicho scanned the small group consisting of three shinigami not including him.

"Right, you may leave now. Do not forget that I want a report due when you return, Hitsugaya taicho."

Toshirou gritted his teeth, he hated writing reports. It didn't help that Matsumoto and Abarai didn't have to write one.

"I understand."

Renji groaned.

"Come on you guys, quit chatting, we got work to do."

Matsumoto opened up a senkai gate.

"Yippee! Come on taicho! The living world and all those glorious shop await!"

The three shinigami walked through the senkai gate and it closed, leaving soul society far behind them.

**

* * *

Yes I know what you're all screaming in your head at the moment.**

**"Why did you have to make this chapter so short! It was practically nothing!"**

**Yes I know and I'm sorry. It is quite short. But it's just a filler. the next one is also kind of a filler but it's much longer I promise you. The next chapter is neccessary because it explains all the characters feelings in this story, so you'll just have to bear with it.**

**The action shall start in the 5th chapter. When Toshirou meets Karin. Look forward to that! I wonder whats going to happen? How will Karin react? Virtual cookies to those who can guess correctly!**

**Okay, please review! I need to know some names because I can't write anymore chapters without a name. Thank you reviewers! I love all of you guys!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay!**

**I've finally written another chapter or Winter Blossoms!**

**It's extra long to make up for the extra short one last time.**

**:):):)**

**LOL**

**Oh yeah...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**OMG! Over 2000 words!**

**Enjoy!**

_

* * *

_

(Flashback)

"_Ichigo! How was preschool? Did you make any new friends?"_

_Ichigo grinned up at Masaki._

"_Guess what? I did actually make a new friend today. Her name is Tatski!"_

_Masaki raised an eyebrow._

"_Tatski? Isn't that the girl whom you can never defeat in karate?"_

"_Well, yeah but she's really nice and we get along great. Anyway, I know that if I train hard enough, then I'll be able to beat her. Just you wait mum!"_

_Masaki smiled warmly. Her orange brown hair fanned out behind her head by the strong breeze, she truly had the aura of a heavenly angel. Strong, proud and happy._

"_That's great Ichigo! I'm glad that you finally found a good friend. I'm sure that Tatski will become a very special person in your life."_

_Masaki gave a sweet, trilling laugh. It sounded like the pealing of church bells, strong and rich._

"_I'm sure that it's a bit early to give you this type of friendship information but Ichigo, you're a very big boy now so l trust you'll understand."_

_Ichigo nodded eagerly and waited for Masaki to continue._

"_Make sure that you'll trust Tatski to make her own opinions. I know as a fact that you can be very protective of your friends . Don't pressure her, give her space to breathe, space to live her own life. Do you understand Ichigo?"_

"_Yes. I got every single word!"_

"_Now that's my boy!"_

_(End flashback)_

Ichigo Kurosaki slammed another random object on the floor. This was apparently how he vented anger. Rukia's small raven head popped around the corner of the door. She carefully walked over to his desk and sat on it, inspecting the huge pile of rubbish spread across the floor.

"Whoa, Ichigo. What are you doing? What's wrong?"

Ichigo growled.

"Why does Toshirou have to be chosen to go to Karakura town? What about me? This is my family we're talking about! I've been homesick for the last 5 years and now this golden opportunity has come up for me to go to Karakura town and now I don't get chosen? Karin's in trouble and all I can do is sit here and await orders like an obedient puppy? Hell, I don't even know if my dad and Yuzu are still alive!"

Rukia's violet eyes softened and she moved forward to place her hand on Ichigo's.

"Look Ichigo, Karin and your family will be fine. They can take care of themselves. Karin has riatsu worthy of a fukutaicho. She would jump in front of a cero to protect her family; Karin is that kind of person. If she's still alive that would definitely mean that the rest of your family is too. Seriously, have some kind of faith in your family."

Ichigo scowled but at least stopped throwing objects randomly on the floor.

"After he gives me an update on my family, I'm going to tear Toshirou apart limb by limb when he returns for being chosen for no apparent reason to go to Karakura town. It's such a shame that he has left so I can't catch him."

Rukia blinked.

"They haven't left yet, idiot. You told me yourself a few minutes ago that they'll be leaving at midnight. It's about half past eleven at the moment."

Ichigo glanced at his clock, it read 12:46.

"Damn! My clock's broken."

He pulled his hand out of Rukia's grasp and pulled the clock off the wall, attempting to throw it onto the floor. Rukia immediately jumped off the table and pinned his wrists together with a kidou spell. Her violet eyes were blazing.

"Do. Not. Throw. That. Clock. On. The. Floor."

Ichigo widened his eyes at her sudden change from reassuring to furious.

"What...? Rukia?"

"My nii-sama sent you that clock as a peace offering between him and us. If you break it then you will be a disgrace to the Kuchiki family."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at her loyalty to her brother.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Now can you please unbind my wrists so that I can place this precious item back onto the wall?"

Rukia grudgingly unbound him. Ichigo hung the clock back onto the wall huffily. He turned back to grin at her.

"You're an annoying little midget."

Rukia frowned.

"I am not."

"You are too."

"Am NOT!"

"Are TOO!"

"Ahem!"

Ichigo and Rukia froze midway between their argument and turned slowly to a desk in the corner of the room.

Ichigo scratched his head.

"Err, sorry Momo. I forgot that you were in the room."

Momo gave a small smile.

"That's okay taicho. You and Kuchiki may continue, just turn down the volume a bit. I can't concentrate on my paperwork."

Momo yawned.

"Actually, I might take a break. Please taicho, may I? I want to go visit Kira-kun."

Ichigo shrugged.

"Yeah I guess. Just finish the paperwork when you come back okay Momo?"

Momo grinned.

"Thanks taicho."

After Momo left, Ichigo turned back to Rukia.

She shook her head disbelievingly.

"You're really nice to the other people in your division, Ichigo. I admire that."

Ichigo grinned.

"Gee thanks Rukia. Maybe it's not that I'm nice though, maybe it's because you're mean."

Rukia frowned.

"I'm not mean."

"I said MAYBE."

"But you still meant it."

"Did NOT."

"Did TOO."

***

_(Flashback)_

"_Hey dad?"_

"_What is it Karin, my beautiful daughter?"_

"_Why does Ichi-nii seen so different lately? Ever since that incident last year when the truck crashed into our house, Ichi-nii has... changed."_

_Isshin sighed dramatically and placed a hand over his heart._

"_It's called growing up my little Karin, and I know that you'll start soon too."_

" _Shut up about growing up will you? Tell me the real reason!"_

_Isshin dropped his act and gave a genuine, sad smile._

"_The truth is, I don't actually know. Maybe he has been having problems at school. But he's my son and your big brother so we'll just have to trust him. Trust that he'll make the right decisions, trust that he'll always look after you."_

_Karin grinned._

"_Thanks dad. That actually kinda helps."_

"_Anything for you, Karin."_

_(End flashback)_

Of course, Karin knew the reason now. Ichigo had been a substitute shinigami, Karin was one now. Karin tossed around in her bed sheets; she had a strange feeling that something was supposed to happen tonight though she had no idea what.

"Ichigo, Toshirou. I hope you guys are happy up there." Karin murmured before drifting back to sleep.

***

_(Flashback)_

_The little boy was walking home peacefully with his mother. Both their flaming orange hair caught in the light of the descending sun. The mother laughed as the little boy grumbled something under his breath._

"_Don't worry, Ichigo. You will beat Tatski one day. You promised remember? You just have to work hard."_

_Ichigo's voice turned whiney. _

"_But mum! When I improve, Tatski improves too! I'll never catch up."_

_Masaki's face grew thoughtful._

"_Ichigo, why do you want to beat Tatski so badly?"_

"_Duh. Mum, if I become the best karate person then so many people will like me more! It's just common sense. At the moment, I always get bullied just because I have orange hair."_

"_But Ichigo, wouldn't you rather have people like you for who you are than what you can do?"_

"_I..."_

_Ichigo's eyebrows knotted in confusion._

"_I...don't know."_

_(End flashback)_

Ichigo shot out of bed.

_Mum...._

He looked around as he took in his surroundings.

_That dream... it feels so real. I think, maybe it's trying to tell me something. What is it?_

_***_

_(Flashback)_

"_Yuzu! Please stop crying. It hurts me when you cry you know."_

_Yuzu sniffed._

"_I'm so sorry Karin-chan. It's just that Ichi-nii hasn't come back for so long. I really, really miss him."_

_Karin sighed._

"_I know Yuzu. We all miss him but he'll be back sooner than you think, trust me."_

_Yuzu nodded._

_Karin's mind then drifted off into unanswered questions._

Sometimes I wonder why Ichi-nii left us like that. Where is he? What is he doing? Is he happy? Even though he is older than us, he's still just 15 years old. Do most normal 15 year olds leave home? Why did he leave so suddenly?

"_Karin? Karin!"_

_Karin blinked, focusing her vision on her sister, who was waving her hands in front of Karin's face and moving her mouth._

"_Huh? Yuzu, what's up?"_

"_As I was saying, sometimes I wonder why Ichi-nii left us like that. Where is he? What is he doing? Is he happy? Even though he is older than us, he's still just 15 years old. Do most normal 15 year olds leave home? Why did he leave so suddenly?"_

_Yuzu waited eagerly for an answer or at least some comfort._

_Karin just stared at Yuzu in disbelief, hearing her exact thoughts getting put in words out loud._

"_I...don't know. I...I really don't know."_

_Karin pushed past Yuzu and ran up the stairs towards her bedroom, praying that Yuzu didn't see the glistening wetness in her eyes._

Ichi-nii... please come home. We... I really miss you.

_(End flashback)_

Karin's eyes were wet when she woke for the second time that night.

_Ichi-nii, it's been five years. Do we really mean so little to you that you do not want to visit us after such a long period of time?_

But even though the thought was directed towards Ichigo, Karin knew, she just knew somewhere that it was really directed towards two people. Ichigo and... Toshirou.

* * *

**Nawwwww**

**Poor Karin :(**

**She thinks that Ichigo and Toshirou don't want to see her. She doesn't know that they are too busy to see her.**

**Kayyz...**

**If you want to see her happy again then please review and I'll post another chapter on!**


	5. Chapter 5

Familiar.

Familiar was the grass beneath her feet. Familiar was the ball hurtling into the goal. Familiar was the exhilarating rush of victory. Familiar was rushing into a group hug. Yet beneath all these things, something unfamiliar was lurking.

Karin stiffened and jerked her head back as she realised what it was.

_Not one but three... riatsu... Renji, Matsumoto and... Toshirou. They were coming._

…

_She's become a lot stronger._Toshirou thought as he sped towards her riatsu.

It was uncontrolled, leaking everywhere. A huge bait for hollows.

_I must reach her, before a hollow does. She may be stronger, but she probably doesn't know that she's hollow bait yet._

"Taicho..."

Matsumoto was shunpo-ing beside him on his right while Renji was shunpo-ing on his left.

"Taicho stop worrying. She'll be fine."

_Curse Matsumoto and her motherly ways._He thought angrily.

"She's not fine. If she isn't physically injured then is most certainly is emotionally damaged."

Renji rolled his eyes.

"If you hadn't of ditched her 5 years ago then she would be fine."

Toshirou glared at Renji through the corner of his eye.

"How did you know about that?"

"Dude, everybody knows. That's why Yamamoto soutaicho chose you for this mission. He wants you guys to patch things up so that he won't lose a valuable shinigami guardian over some stupid friendship fight."

Toshirou scowled angrily, though he had to admit, he was excited at the prospect of seeing his best friend again.

Matsumoto eyed him pitifully.

_I don't need your empathy. _He replaced the scowl on his face.

…

Karin paused midway through the soccer semi-finals. They had just won the first round and were now in the middle of the second.

It was a huge hollow, located not far from where she was competing.

She narrowed her eyes.

_The shinigami can take care of it._

Her eyes began watering as she heard the loud roar of the hollow, chains clinking and the screams of horror from the souls that were unable to run away.

The ball was passed to her.

She looked around, she was open, she could easily score now and her team would win this round.

Another scream, this one desperate and pleading.

"The stupid bastard!" she yelled and channeled all her riatsu into the ball. She gave it a huge kick and sent it flying towards the back of the hollows head.

Karin heard the loud impact of the ball against the skull of the hollow. It let out a pained roar. The ball bounced off and dropped neatly at her feet. The hollow turned to glare at her then disappeared.

"Kurosaki!"

The referee and all her teammates were staring at her.

"Sorry, got a bit carried away."

The ref glared at her and blew his whistle.

"Play on!"

Karin looked around, she wasn't open anymore. She passed the ball swiftly to another teammate.

Then, in front of her, the sky ripped open and a Menos Grande stepped out. It caught sight of Karin and immediately shot a huge red cero at her. The action caught Karin by surprise and she swore as the cero hit her right shoulder.

The blood flowed out from her wound.

Too weak to change into a shinigami, Karin dropped to her knees, painfully clutching her right shoulder. The Menos opened its mouth, ready to shoot another cero to finish her off.

Then a flash of white.

The Menos disappeared.

"Toshirou..." she gasped staring up at him.

"You've... come back?"

_He really came back. The riatsu wasn't my imagination. They have come back... because of me? And those arrancar that I...No. Stop thinking about that_

_It's the same as before...he's saved me from another hollow during a soccer match._

The memories came flooding back.

_(Flashback)_

"_So...you're a shinigami?"_

_Toshirou nodded._

"_That's correct. I am a death god or a soul reaper you might say. I save souls and eliminate hollows."_

"_Hollows?"_

"_Monsters with holes in their body where their hearts used to lie. They originate from souls."_

_Toshirou leaned back to lie with her beside the river._

_Karin smiled wistfully._

"_I want to become a shinigami."_

_Toshirou turned to face her. He gave a small smile._

"_I could teach you."_

_(End Flashback)_

_I miss your smile..._

_(Flashback)_

"_Karin, you're not trying hard some aggression into your fighting, you cannot fight empty of emotion."_

"_I'm trying, Toshirou!"_

"_Well then, try harder!" he said sharply and landed a soft blow to her hip._

_She glared at him_

"_You were open." He replied simply._

_Karin threw her arms up into the air and fell into the grass._

"_It's just so hard!"_

"_You'll get it eventually."_

_Toshirou yawned and plopped down next to her. A playful grin crept across Karin's lips. She quickly picked up the wooden sword that they used for practice and landed a hard blow to his back. Toshirou turned to glare at her._

"_What was that for?"_

"_You were open." She replied simply, smirking._

_A smirk spread across his own face._

"_You are so in for it!"_

_She laughed and screamed playfully as he chased her around the field._

_(End Flashback)_

_I miss your lessons..._

_(Flashback)_

"_Toshirou, when you go back... will you forget about me?"_

_They were sitting at Toshirou's place next to the railing._

"_I will never forget about you."_

_Karin grinned childishly._

"_So how much will you not forget about me?"_

_Toshirou got up with a sigh and walked over to the nearest tree._

"_Our friendship shall not be forgotten in my mind from this tree to the end of the universe and back again, twice. Happy?"_

"_Extremely."_

_(End Flashback)_

_I miss our conversations..._

_Toshirou... I missed you._

Karin opened her eyes to the present. Only a few seconds had gone past. Toshirou sheathed his zanpakuto and turned to face her, his eyes showing warmth and apology. Karin lifted herself off the ground and though she was losing a lot of blood, she hugged her shoulder and ran back into the game, completely ignoring Toshirou.

Toshirou just stood there, dumbfounded and gazed dejectedly at Karin's back.

Her teammates had stopped the game and were now huddled around her.

"Kurosaki! What happened?"

"Yeah, all of a sudden, your shoulder started dripping blood."

"Why did you say Toshirou? Who is he?"

Karin shook her head and turned it slightly to glare at Toshirou through the corner of her eye.

"No one, he's no one."

A pang of sadness hit Toshirou as Karin uttered those words.

_No one... am I really no one to her?_

Matsumoto and Renji stood behind him, utterly speechless.

Then Matsumoto found her voice.

"Taicho... I'm so sorry."

_She makes it sound like Karin just died._Toshirou thought

"Forget it. Could you two... just leave? I need to sort this out myself."

They both nodded sympathetically and shunpo'ed away.

Karin was glancing up at the ref.

"May I be excused from the game? I need to go home."

The ref nodded.

"Sure Kurosaki, come back when you're feeling better."

Karin got up and swayed slightly on her feet. Everyone immediately reached out to steady her.

"I-I'm fine." Karin replied, embarrassed.

Toshirou walked over to her.

"I'll walk you home."

As he wasn't in his gigai, Karin made no sign to acknowledge his presence and just kept walking forwards. Toshirou fell into step beside her. As they walked, he healed her arm with basic kidou. She waited until they were out of earshot to turn and glare at him.

"You're sorry! Ha! So you just think two simple words can cure the heartache and betrayal I've had for the past 5 years? You left me. I accepted that but then you never returned. Do you know the pain you caused me? Do you know that I eagerly waited each night for your return?"

"Karin..."

"You promised, Toshirou! You promised!"

"Karin, I'm here now." He responded lamely and Karin stared at him with disbelief.

"You're here..."

Then she broke down and fell to her knees, half laughing half crying. She looked up at him and whispered.

"Toshirou, what was I to you? Was I even your friend?"

Then she stood up, her voice rising angrily until she began shouting.

"Or was I just always a mere human to you? For amusement on boring days! Somebody to talk to!"

Karin stood there angrily, trying not to let the tears spill. Toshirou was shocked at her outburst.

"Karin, you were always my friend, my only and best friend. But I was so busy as a taicho in soul society that I selfishly told myself that you'd be okay, that you didn't need my friendship anymore. I was so stupid, I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long."

This was probably one of the longest speeches Toshirou had ever done.

Karin gave up and let the tears fall. Fully healed, she yelled at him.

"You bastard! You should've come earlier!"

Then she turned and ran.

Toshirou helplessly watched her retreating figure as she disappeared from his sight.

"Matsumoto...Renji. I know you're there."

This time he didn't even care that they had been eavesdropping.

They stepped out from behind the nearby tree. Matsumoto was almost in tears.

"Taicho...we're here for you, just in case..."

She didn't finish the sentence but Toshirou knew what she was going to say.

_Just in case it all goes wrong. Just in case we fail our mission. Just in case I never win back Karin's trust, Karin's friendship again._

"I just need some time alone." He told them quietly, then he shunpo'ed away.

Karin walked through the door to her house and up to her room. She wiped away the last of her tears and collapsed onto the bed. She was so mad at herself for running away like a coward.

_Toshirou's... back._

The tears flowed once more. She could feel, beneath the anger, there was sadness, relief and... a longing for comfort.

…

Toshirou reached the railing and sighed as he sat down.

_Karin... I really am sorry. Please forgive me... someday._

He closed his eyes and gave a small, sad smile.

_Karin, you melted my frozen heart but now, I'm afraid I've frozen yours._

**So, what do you guys think? It's really kind of emotional for Toshirou in this chapter. Karin's feeling really angry that it's taken so long for him to return. But it's hinted that she's actually kind of happy. Maybe she doesn't know that yet.**

**I don't know!**

**And many, many thanks to Ash-chan13 for supplying some names for me. (:**

**Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Long time no see!**

**haha sorry about that.**

**Well anyway, doesn't matter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Legend**

**Bold = zanpakuto speaking**

Normal = character speaking

_Italics = thinking_

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It had been a week, a week since the menos incident. Toshirou cursed himself for avoiding her. Initially, Toshirou had prided himself in being courageous. But that was before he had returned and faced Karin. Now he knew, when it came to women, he was a complete coward.

Toshirou had few experience with women as the only female he really interacted with was his fukutaicho. But the relationship between Toshirou and Matsumoto was far from his relationship with Karin. With Matsumoto, it was more of a mother to son relationship. But with Karin, true friendship would blossom. At least, that was what had happened 5 years previously.

_I was a fool, a complete fool to stay away from you Karin. Many times I thought of sneaking away to see you within the last 5 years but each time I selfishly though of my position and my ranking and what I would risk to lose, casting away the thoughts of your feelings and your emotions. I know now, the reality is; losing your trust, losing you as a friend is worse than losing my title as taicho. My rank may be difficult to gain back but your trust, your friendship is what I really need more than anything else._

Toshirou pulled out his cell phone. It was different to all the cell phones used in the living world. Sure, it had all the normal applications of a normal cell phone but it also had a hollow detector. It would find a hollow as soon as it emerged. It was a creation from Mr. Hat and Sandals himself.

Toshirou slowly opened the images folder, then he quickly pressed his eyes together before the images could fully load.

_I'm being a coward, again._

Toshirou opened his eyes to gaze upon picture after picture of him and Karin. Rolling on the grass, striking a pose, making faces.

Toshirou gazed upon the images of 5 years previously and he knew that now, these happy moments would never relive themselves, never reawaken. They would become distant... memories until the time came when Toshirou would find the fire to melt the ice, the key to Karin's heart once more. Not when, if.

…

The Kurosaki door was unlocked and Toshirou was in his gigai. He pushed the door slightly ajar, hoping that maybe Karin would be standing there, her hands on her hips and a scowl in place. Only, life wasn't that easy. He sighed and knocked on the door. Yuzu appeared and smiled warmly.

"Hello. May I help you?"

"Is Kurosaki Karin home?"

"You must be her friend." Yuzu grinned. "She did say something about a white haired boy last week."

Toshirou nodded.

"Only I don't think she sounded very happy."

_So she's still angry at me._

"Do you happen you know where she is?"

Yuzu nodded brightly.

"She's at a soccer tournament. She should be finished in about 10 minutes."

"Thank you. I will go and see her now."

He exited the house and sped towards the soccer field.

_Karin, listen to me and please... just accept my apology._

…

She ran gracefully down the field, keeping the ball secure at her feet. She dodged the oppositions and booted the ball into the net.

Yet another point for her team.

The whistle blew, signalling the end of the game. Karin jogged over to the bench, out of breath. Toshirou walked out from behind the cluster of trees and over to Karin. He stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Karin? Can you come with me, please?"

Karin turned to face him, glaring.

"Why should I trust you? You ditched me once, how will I know that you won't do it again?"

Toshirou stiffened.

"That... wasn't my decision to make. If you do not want to come I will not force you to. But I hope you will." His eyes were pleading.

Karins own eyes softened, very slightly.

"Fine. But let me take off my boots first."

Toshirou gave an audible sigh of relief.

Karin pulled off her boots and reluctantly followed him into the cluster of trees. She was still really pissed. And who could blame her? Toshirou had left her and broken his promise. He had betrayed her friendship. She still wasn't sure whether she could trust him or not.

He stopped shortly in a little clearing quite far from the soccer field. He dipped his head backwards and with his eyes, gazed at the sky.

Karin wondered what he was thinking.

Toshirou's face glowed with such radiance. His pure white hair shone in the light. His teal eyes burned with sadness. Yet still, his face was closed off, protecting his emotions within. How Karin wished she could read his mind. To know how he felt, why he wanted to bring her out here.

His return had angered Karin. That was for sure. But after becoming his best friend and then mourning his departure for years after, now that he had returned, she realised with shock that she had indeed really missed him. She had cared for him that deeply. And now was no exception.

Toshirou gazed sadly at the clouds in the sky.

_Please, help me find words. Words to open Karin's heart and allow her to experience my view of this world. Help me, win back her trust._

He turned slowly to face her. Toshirou's heart thudded at the expression on her face. She was staring at him, eyes wide open and eyebrows raised. It was a mixture of shock and relief. There was no hint of irritation, anger or impatience in her expression.

Toshirou felt his heart warm up, even just the slightest.

"Karin?"

She seemed to snap back into reality and immediately attempted to glare at him. Toshirou grinned inwardly as he realised that it was a poor attempt of a glare. No matter how she set her mouth, her eyes would always spark with interest.

Karin set her mouth in a thin, hard line.

"Hurry up, Toshirou. I don't have all day. Get it over and done with already."

He nodded silently and gazed back at the sky. Then he spoke.

"When I first came here, 5 years ago, the first thing I noticed was the dullness of the city and the streets. Everybody minded their own business and life went on... and on... and on... the same as yesterday or the day before. Nothing ever changed."

Toshirou glanced quickly at Karin. She appeared to be impatient but he could see in her eyes an interest and a spark of... hope?

"I went on with my mission but there was no joy, only commitment. No smiles, only triumphant grins or encouraging smiles at Kurosaki's lame jokes. Life went on.

But then I met you. You brought the smile to my face. Your cheerful nature, your contagious laugh. You were the spark of the town. "

Karin knew her eyes were giving away her emotions so she shut them quickly and worked to keep the scowl on her face. Toshirou continued.

"My heart had been frozen but you found the key and brought a candle. Slowly, you melted my cold exterior and started working on the inside. You taught me to laugh, to smile. You taught me the true meaning of friendship."

Toshirou closed his eyes as well as he recalled the memories past.

"You changed my life, Karin. We were best friends. I am forever in debt to you.

But then the time came when my mission was accomplished. I was no longer needed in the living world. I had long known that this was coming but I hadn't of wanted to admit it, even to myself. I was torn at the idea of leaving you, but it was necessary.

When I returned to soul society, you haunted my mind. I endlessly worried about you. Countless times I regretted leaving you. I wanted to return so badly. My life seemed so bleak without you."

"So why didn't you?"

Toshirou was slightly shocked to hear her voice wobble a little. Karin wasn't... crying was she?

"I was busy." He replied simply. "I never had the time. I am so sorry. I didn't realise it then, but my duties as a taicho was nowhere near as important as my friendship with you."

He opened his eyes to see Karin gazing at the ground. She sighed and looked up into his teal eyes. Even though she didn't say anything he could read the emotions in her eyes. Clearly, she now understood his view. She clenched her fists. His pain was her pain. Her shame and guilt showed clearly on her face.

"I was a real bastard wasn't I?" She spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, Toshirou. I overreacted."

His heart seemed so full. Toshirou nodded silently and gave a rare smile. Karin grinned, surprising him.

"I'll race you back to the soccer field. Ready, set, GO!"

Then she ran.

Toshirou stared at her in surprise before smirking and running after her.

They sped towards to oval, both intent on defeating the other. But of course, Toshirou won. Karin fell back onto the grass, puffed.

"Congrats Tosh."

Toshirou nodded.

"You know that you have no chance of beating me."

Karin smiled.

"Yes. I know. But still, it was fun."

Toshirou glanced towards the sky once more.

"Karin, it's getting late. I'll walk you home."

Karin nodded and they walked down towards the path beside the river. It was a beautiful sight. The bright orange rays of the setting sun shimmered and glowed on the surface of the river. It was like a raging fire was dwelling within the darkness of the water.

As they walked, Karin looked up at his face, carved like a statue with brilliant teal orbs shining in the centre. She gave a soft smile.

Toshirou gazed into the river, never wanting this day to end.

_Karin, why does she make me feel this way? She makes me feel so happy, so complete, so... loved._

…

Karin sighed as she walked down the path.

_Even when I get pissed at him I still yearn for his comfort. Why does it feel so right to be with him? Could it be that... I love him?_

…

_Karin... this feeling inside of me... I think that I may, I think that I may love you._

Hyourinmaru smirked.

**About time, young master.**

_Hyourinmaru? You knew?_

**I've known for a long time master. You may not wish to admit it to yourself but you can't hide your feelings from me.**

_I see. Thank you, Hyourinmaru_

Hyourinmaru rolled his eyes.

**Tell her. Master, you need to tell her.**

_Tell her? But what if she doesn't feel the same way?_

The ice dragon shrugged.

**I don't know. But chances are, she might.**

Toshirou gave a hint of a smile as he processed this.

_I will try... let's just hope, she will._

Karin watched curiously as she noticed the different emotions flickering across his face. She smiled.

_He must be talking to his zanpakuto._

She watched as his lips turned up into his sweet, rare smile.

_He seems to smile more often with me now._

That thought sent a tingle of happiness up her spine. She grinned and grasped his hand.

"Toshirou?"

It was now or never.

He turned to look at her, surprise shown.

"Yes?"

Now or never...

"Umm, I just want to tell you something."

They stopped in the middle of the road.

"Karin, I need to tell you something as well. But you go first."

Karin nodded nervously.

"Toshirou, I-I think... that I..." She looked up at him pleadingly, trying to get him to understand. "I... love you."

Toshirou felt his eyes widen as she said these words.

"Karin..." He looked straight into her eyes. "That's what I wanted to tell you. I love you too."

Karin stared at him.

"You do?"

"Yes. Yes, I do."

A flash of headlights. And then it was all over.

Karin had screamed as the truck came. Toshirou had watched helplessly as it crashed into her, leaving her sprawled on the ground, unmoving.

The driver had taken one look at Karin's unmoving body and sped off, leaving only Toshirou to stare, shocked at what had just happened.

One word flashed into his mind.

_Karin..._

"Karin...Karin!"

He shunpo'ed quickly by her side and touched her gently on the cheek. A single delicate tear dropped from his eye.

"Karin?"

He checked her breathing, there was none.

The world seemed to go out of focus. He just knelt there, next to her dead body, eyes widened in complete shock. An unexpected thought crossed his mind. _Her soul should be coming out about now._ As if on cue, Karin's soul floated out.

"Toshirou? What just happened? Why am I in my shinigami uniform?"

Toshirou closed his eyes.

"That idiot of a truck driver just crashed into you."

Karin was shocked.

"I'm dead?"

"You've... passed on." Toshirou avoided her eyes.

Karin grinned.

"Awesome! I'm the same as you now. I'm a full shinigami!"

Toshirou opened his eyes in shock and stared incredulously at Karin.

"When you die," he told her angrily, "You don't say 'awesome!'. You think about the predicament that you are stuck in and try to figure a way out."

"Predicament?" Karin asked, "What predicament?"

Toshirou rearranged his facial features into the cold familiar mask and started rubbing his temples with his thumbs.

"Now that you are _dead."_He spat the last word out in disgust. "The fact that you are a shinigami and you cannot fully suppress your high spiritual energy will attract huge amounts of hollows here in the living world. Sooner or later, you or your family will no doubt be targeted. The clear option is to send you back to Soul Society but in doing so; this will erase all your human memories."

"My memories, huh?" Karin looked thoughtful. "What happens if you take me through the Senkai gate? Would it be any different?"

Toshirou shook his head quietly.

_I am being selfish. Why is it that I am being so selfish? Does Karin really matter to me so much that I cannot bear if she loses her memories? If it were another person then I wouldn't hesitate to send them back to soul society. But...this is Karin._

"Toshirou." He looked up to see Karin smiling sympathetically at him; she must have sensed his pain. "Please send me back to Soul Society."

"What? Karin, wait. Why..."

"If I stay, people's lives will be in danger. I cannot do that to anyone. I could never bear the realisation that I am the one putting their lives on the line just for my memories. Send me to Soul Society, Toshirou. It'll be better for everyone else."

Toshirou felt his face harden once more.

"Very well. This is your decision that you're making. Do not regret it."

Karin nodded.

"You will help me though, won't you? You'll help me remember."

Toshirou closed his eyes and silently nodded once. Karin grinned.

"You don't have to act so upset Toshirou. Sure, I lose my memories, but I'll still have my feelings, won't I? I'll still know what I felt as a human. "

Toshirou opened his eyes and gazed at Karin.

"Do you know," He said, "Why I came back to the living world?"

"No."

Toshirou sighed.

"I'm supposed to track you down and find out why you are training so much harder than usual. And why your riatsu is increasing by so much. Now that you are about to get your memories wiped, can you please tell me."

Karin's eyes widened in shock.

"The arrancar." She murmured. "The arrancar are planning an attack on both the living world and Soul Society. Toshirou you need to stop them. I overheard their conversation one day when I was training in an open field. I was training how to suppress my riatsu so that's probably why they couldn't sense me there. They're planning to attack in about 2 months time, when winter arrives."

Toshirou's eyes darkened as he took this information in.

"Thank you, Karin. I will report that to the soutaicho immediately."

Karin glanced at him.

"Could you... send me to Soul Society now?"

Toshirou nodded and his face closed up once more.

Karin smiled.

"I'll be waiting in Rukongai for you." She said.

Toshirou nodded.

"I'll be looking for you."

Then he unsheathed Hyourinmaru and pressed the hilt firmly onto Karin's forehead.

"Goodbye, Karin." He murmured.

Then with a flash of blue light, she disappeared, leaving only a small black butterfly flying upwards towards the sky. Toshirou sighed and called out.

"Matsumoto, Abarai, we're done here. Let's go. We can head back to Soul Society now."

Matsumoto and Renji shunpo'ed quickly over to him.

"Hai, taicho." Matsumoto grinned. "Wanna see what I just bought from the shopping centre?" She was carrying three bulging bags that seemed to be all filled with clothing.

"No! Let's go."

He opened a door to Soul Society and immediately, three black hell butterflies flew out. They each followed a shinigami and one by one, they walked through the blinding white light into Soul Society.

**

* * *

That's chapter 6 for you guys! Hope you liked it. Once again, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	7. Chapter 7

**This has to be my favourite chapter that I've written so far! **

**(:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Okay, just to get things clear, my school holidays are ending this week. So as you might have already noticed, I have been trying to post up as many chapters as possible for you guys. When school starts I'm going to be really busy. I'm probably going to update about once a fortnight (two weeks). **

**Thanks for reading this far.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Urahara Kisuke paused in the middle of sipping his tea as he glanced at the TV screen.

"And finally, the body of a young teenage girl has reportedly been found near the lake. After thorough investigation, doctors report that she had died of a car incident. Her family, consisting of her fraternal twin, her brother and father are all devastated at their loss."

The camera zoomed in onto a sobbing Yuzu.

"K-Karin was my best friend a-as well a-as m-m-my sister. She h-had a kind heart and was l-loved by many. I just w-wanted to s-say, I m-miss you and I-I love you K-Karin." Yuzu pressed her hands onto her face and started sobbing harder.

Urahara placed his tea carefully onto his table and flipped open his fan. His eyes were masked by the dark shadow of his striped hat as he slowly started fanning himself, seemingly lost in thought.

"Kurosaki's little sister..." He murmured to himself. "Now what was her name again? Ah yes, Karin. Kurosaki Karin."

...

Toshirou frowned as he sat down once more behind his desk. He had lost Karin, again. Only, this time there was nothing he could do about it. After hearing what Karin had overheard, Yamamoto soutaicho had been no help in finding Karin, as he was only concerned on Soul Society's safety. He had ordered all training to be increased and early acceptances of shinigami academy students into the Gotei 13. Toshirou sighed and started working on his report. Suddenly, loud noises and the sound of a man yelling could be heard quite clearly from behind his door. The door slammed open.

"Kurosaki." Toshirou said curtly, not taking his eyes off from his report.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER? WHY IN THE NAME OF KAMI-SAMA IS SHE DEAD?" Ichigo was fuming mad and his face was slowly turning the colour of his hair.

"Haven't you seen the news reports?" Toshirou replied in a monotone voice. "She got hit by a car." It sounded as if he was merely bored or uninterested when in fact, he could possibly be more worried than Ichigo.

"She got hit by a... WHY THE HELL DID YOU LET HER GET HIT BY A FREAKIN' CAR? You're a damn shini..."

"Kurosaki," Toshirou cut him off. "Shouldn't you be with your family right now? I would think that they would be more pleased to see you than me."

Ichigo's eyes darkened as he glared at Toshirou. He turned to leave but stopped and said quietly.

"Toshirou, I will avenge Karin's death. And you will help me track that victim down. Even if it means killing a human we're supposed to protect, I can't let Karin's murder go unavenged."

"It wasn't murder, Kurosaki. It was an accident."

Ichigo turned around to face Toshirou, his eyes blazing.

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!" Then he regained himself and spoke a little quieter. "Karin was killed by a wimp who couldn't care less for her life. A pathetic excuse for a human like that should not be allowed to live."

Toshirou closed his eyes and considered the choice. Did he or did he not want to avenge Karin's death? He sighed and nodded once.

"Fine then. I will help you since you have the tracking skill of an unexperienced first year."

Ichigo nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks Toshirou."

He turned to leave the office.

"Oh and Kurosaki?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Hitsugaya to you."

Ichigo smirked and walked out the door.

"Like hell I'm ever going to start calling you that Toshirou." He called back over his shoulder.

Toshirou glared at the door.

...

When she awoke, she was in unfamiliar territory. But then again, nothing seemed familiar to her anymore. She felt something digging into her side and with a shock, she realised that she was lying on the ground. She scrambled up quickly and dusted herself off, took a step forward and immediately fell back onto the ground once more.

"Ow..." She groaned, rubbing her butt. She looked back to see what she had tripped on. It was perfectly round and to her surprise, quite familiar. _A ball. _She thought. Black and white hexagons stitched onto it covered the entire surface.

She picked it up and examined it. Some kind of raw longing seemed to erupt inside of her. She stood up and dropped the ball onto the ground. It bounced once, twice, three times before settling down in front of her feet. She reached out cautiously with one foot and gave it a soft nudge. That seemed to feel right. The ball rolled a couple of metres before stopping. She grinned and with renewed energy, she ran up to the ball and booted it as hard as she could.

The ball soared gracefully through the air in a huge ark before dropping in front of the feet of another person. He was shorter than average with messy black hair that seemed to defy gravity. And to her surprise, his eyes shone a brilliant purple. His appearance seemed to remind her of someone, only she had no idea who. The boy picked the ball up with his hands and ran towards her.

"Do you play?" He asked once she was within hearing distance. She looked confused.

"Play what?" She asked. The boy grinned.

"Soccer, of course."

"Soccer? What's that?"

"Here, I'll show you. Follow me."

He led her over to a small field of grass. On each side of the field there were two goals marked out clearly between two long sticks that had been shoved into the ground. The boy dropped the ball onto the ground and dribbled it into the middle of the field.

"Basically," He informed her, "You just have to run with the ball and kick it into the goal between the two sticks. The ball can touch any part of your body except for your hands. Got it?"

"Yeah, I think so." She replied, counting the tips off her fingers, "Run with the ball, kick it into the goal and can touch any part of body except for hands. Got it."

The boy smirked, his purple eyes flashing.

"Good. You seem to catch on pretty quick. I'll give you a demo so sit back and watch the pro."

He started by dribbling the ball down the sidelines and then slowly curving his way into the centre of the field. Once he was positioned in front of the goal, he swung his foot back to give one last kick. But instead of the ball, his foot made contact with something else, something hard.

"Huh?" He looked down to see the girl's foot blocking his path. She smirked at him and swiftly stole the ball, sprinting down midfield until she reached the other goal. She swung her foot back and scored. Grinning, she turned to face the boy. His face broke out into a huge smile and he ran over to hi-5 her.

"Whoa, nice shot." He praised her, "Just make sure you always keep your eyes off your feet and look up." He grinned, "Are you sure you weren't a soccer champion before you died?"

She frowned.

"Before I died? What do you mean? Is this some kind of joke?"

The boy rolled his eyes.

"I'm guessing that you're quite new here. Everyone here is a soul whose body has died. This place is called Soul Society. Kind of like what the humans would call Heaven. Once a soul is sent to Soul Society, all he or she's memories are erased."

It took her a moment to take all the information in. She looked down at herself.

"Well it looks like I died pretty young then."

The boy shrugged.

"Meh, you died around the same age as me."

...

Yuzu sighed as she looked down at the soup she was cooking. Suddenly her eyes widened.

"Oh no!" She moaned, "I've made one serving too much." She would have to refrigerate the leftovers and drink it the next morning. Refrigerated soup didn't taste very nice. She had become so accustomed to making three servings. Since Ichigo was at college, only her, her dad and... and...

"Karin!" Yuzu broke down and fell to her knees as she began crying for the five hundredth time. It wasn't the refrigerated soup she was crying for. No, her pain stretched far beyond that. It was the loss of a person so close to her heart, the betrayal of a life so important to her. Yuzu mourned for not only what she couldn't have, but what Karin couldn't have either. The lost opportunities. Karin would never get to graduate school. She would never get to go out to parties. She would never get to fall in love...

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. Yuzu sniffed and held back her tears. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and went to open the door.

"Ichi-nii!" She gasped, dropping her soul ladle. "Oh Ichi-nii!" she ran into his open arms and began crying once more into his chest.

"Karin-chan...Karin...She..." Yuzu tried to speak but her throat was too choked up. Ichigo hugged her and patted her awkwardly on the back.

"I know Yuzu. I heard." He replied quietly. "Now stop crying."

Yuzu nodded and sniffed obediently. She held onto him for a few seconds longer before releasing him and motioning for him to go inside.

"Come in Ichi-nii." She murmured quietly. "I've made enough soup for three."

...

They both sat on the soccer field, quietly watching the sun sink slowly down. The boy suddenly asked the girl a question.

"Do you know what shinigami are?"

The girl shook her head.

"Well," He began. "They're like our heroes. They save Soul Society from hollows and other bad things. They have swords which they call their zanpakutos and they get a whole uniform and everything. I haven't seen a real shinigami yet but one day, when my grandma earns enough money to support herself without my help then I'm going to go and become a shinigami. Man, they are so awesome." His eyes glazed over for a second as he imagined his future as a famous hero. Then he turned to the girl in excitement. "Hey, why don't you come with me? We can be shinigami together!"

The girl grinned.

"Yeah sure, I guess. I'll come with you then. I like the idea of a sword."

The boy suddenly slapped his forehead.

"We still haven't introduced ourselves properly yet! I'm Takeda Kichiro. What's your name?"

The girl looked baffled.

"Umm... I don't know. I don't seem to remember my name." She admitted quietly. Kichiro grinned.

"Great! I'll name you! How about Yukari? It means beautiful pear tree."

The girl scrunched up her face.

"Beautiful? That doesn't suit me. And I don't like pears."

"Fine then. What about Haruki? Shining sun."

"No." She replied firmly.

"Hinata?"

"No."

"Mitsuo?"

"That's a boy's name!"

"Fine, fine, fine. How about... Karin?"

She thought about it for a moment. The name seemed surprisingly familiar. I called out to her. It somehow completed her.

"Yeah, I like that one."

"So... You're Karin? Hey Karin!"

Karin grinned. The name definitely suited her.

"No need to yell. I'm right next to you, dumbass!"

Kichiro grinned and tilted his head to the sky.

"I know." He replied smugly. "I was just testing you." Suddenly his eyes widened.

"Oh crap." He muttered, jumping to his feet. "It's late. I've got to go home now or my grandma will get worried." He ran a couple of metres before skidding to a stop as he realised Karin was still sitting on the ground staring blankly at him.

"Well?" He asked. "You coming or not?"

Karin's face broke out into a relieved grin. She grabbed the soccer ball and scrambled to her feet.

"I thought you were never going to ask."

...

"Ichi-nii! A letter arrived in the post today addressed to you!"

Ichigo groaned and pulled his blanket higher over his head, trying to muffle out the sound of Yuzu's knocking.

"Ichi-nii!" She called from behind his door again. He heard her sigh. "Alright, I'm coming in now." The door slammed open and an angry Yuzu burst in. She pulled the blanket off the bed and glared at her older brother.

"What kind of big brother comes home after his little sister died only to sleep in until 12 o' clock? Is this the way you comfort and socialise with your family?" Yuzu aimed a well placed kick to his butt. "Get up, lazy-ass!"

Ichigo stared at Yuzu in shock.

"Y-You're... Yuzu?"

"The one and only." She smirked.

"S-Since when did _you _gain so much backbone? For a second there I thought you were Karin."

Yuzu started shaking at the mention of her late twin's name. Ichigo's eyes widened and he immediately got up to comfort her.

"It's okay Yuzu. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Yuzu calmed herself down and spoke softly in reply to his earlier question.

"After... After..." She couldn't bring herself to say 'Karin's death'. "After... the _incident,_ I decided that I needed to become tougher. I realised that crying could never solve my problems. I decided to become more like... like... _her. _Because I do believe that you and dad need to be more disciplined. Especially dad. And so since... since _she _can't do that job anymore, I decided to take on the role. Do you think... do you think I'm doing a good job?"

Ichigo flashed a surprisingly sincere smile.

"Brilliant." He replied. Yuzu smiled and pulled away from him.

"So did you want your letter?"

"Oh yeah, that." Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "Err... Yeah okay then."

Yuzu nodded and ran out of the room to fetch it for him. She returned a few seconds later, holding a small white envelope. 'Kurosaki Ichigo' was written on the front of the envelope in neat calligraphy.

"Here you go." She turned to leave. "Oh yeah, lunch is served in approximately half an hour. I made extra since you didn't have breakfast."

"Yeah, thanks Yuzu." Ichigo said, feeling slightly guilty for sleeping in.

He ripped open the envelope and pulled out a short note.

**Kurosaki Ichigo,**

**Meet me at my shop at exactly midnight tonight. I have something I need to discuss with you.**

**Urahara**

**P.S. Sorry to disappoint you with a normal form of communication but I used up my last bomb letter on you last time. But do not worry, I am on my way of making more.**

Ichigo scowled as he read the P.S., as if he liked those stupid messages that Urahara threw through the window. It always looked as though he was in the middle of some crime scene and was torture to clean up.

His stomach grumbled, agreeing with him... or just reminding him of his first priority. Fortunately Yuzu picked just that moment to yell up the stairs.

"Ichi-nii! Lunch is almost ready so get down here quickly!"

"Coming Yuzu!" He shouted back. He hurriedly changed out of his pyjamas and stuffed the note into his pocket before heading downstairs.

...

Karin scrunched up her eyes and yawned sleepily. Then with a shock, she realised where she was and immediately bolted upright. Kichiro smirked from his place on the floor.

"I see you're awake, Karin."

Hearing the voice, Karin acted on instinct; jumping out of the bed and doing a backflip in the air before landing gracefully on her feet. Her right hand whipped across her body to grab onto the hilt of an imaginary sword. Wait... Imaginary? Karin's eyes widened in horror.

"My sword!" She shrieked frantically. "Where's my sword?"

A look of shock and horror crossed Kichiro's face.

"Sword?" He asked incredulously. "You have a sword?"

Karin's eyes focused on him, sitting on the floor with a thin blanket covering his legs. She glared at him furiously.

"Of course I have a sword! Damn it! I must have left it somewhere." She spun in circles trying desperately in vain to locate it. "Damn! How the hell am I supposed to fight hollows without my zanpaku..."

Her eyes widened as she realised what she had just said and slowly looked down at herself. Her black shinigami robes swayed slightly from the wind coming in from the open window. She slowly looked towards Kichiro. The expression on his face was one of absolute astonishment and disbelief.

"Y-You're a... a... shinigami?" He managed to choke out. Karin's own expression mirrored his exactly.

"Shinigami..." She whispered. "I guess I am."

* * *

**So Karin has lost all her memories. D:**

**What is going to happen next? Is something going to happen when/if she sees Toshirou again? Does she even remember Toshirou? **

**To find out, review and I will post another chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**THANKS TO EVERYBODY WHO HAD REVIEWED MY STORY SO FAR!**

**I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Is it just me or are the chapters getting longer each update?**

**Anyway, **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

A week had passed since the Karin had found out that she was a shinigami. She knew that she had to attend the shinigami academy soon in order to gain her zanpakuto back. Her memory had slightly improved and she could remember what being a shinigami felt like. Not much, just what it felt like…

The horror and the pain, they were small prices to pay for all the happiness that she had had being a shinigami. She had felt her heart so full, about to burst from happiness. But the reasons were still as yet, unknown.

She tried hard to avoid these new sensations and feelings of déjà vu. She played soccer with Kichiro everyday and tried to channel her feelings into the soccer ball. But it seemed; nothing could break the bonds that connected her with her previous life. Or maybe, there was something nearby that kept triggering her memory, forcing her to dwell further into her past.

…

Karin looked awkwardly away from Kichiro as he stared at her from over his cereal bowl. She drank her milk quickly and got up from the table.

"Karin." Kichiro's sweet grandmother smiled at her kindly. "You are welcome to stay here for as long as you like. There is really no need to hurry off."

Karin paused hesitantly and closed her eyes to think. As much as she wanted to regain her zanpakuto again, she didn't want to leave Kichiro and his sweet grandmother. They were her only family. The breeze coming in from the open window blew her short hair about her face and helped soothe her.

She had instantly liked Kichiro's grandmother from the moment she set eyes on her. She was such a sweet, gentle old woman and everywhere she went she seemed to carry an aura of innocence and kindness. Karin's own personality was quite the opposite but yet, she seemed to feel that they completed each other. Like a Yin and Yang. At least, their personalities connected.

Karin opened her eyes. Her dark pupils held determination and courage.

"No." She replied firmly. "I'm sorry but I must go. I feel as if my life truly belongs there. I hope that you can understand."

Kichiro's grandmother's face fell a little but she immediately gave Karin a warm smile.

"Well, Karin." She said softly. "I wish you luck for your future then. I hope that you'll live a long and healthy life. Be sure to visit often."

Karin's eyes softened.

"I will." She replied quietly. She then looked towards Kichiro.

"Kichiro…?"

Kichiro was looked everywhere but at Karin now. His bright purple eyes were flashing in anger. He kicked his chair in annoyance before glaring up at Karin.

"Why do you have to leave? We only just met a week ago. You cannot leave! You're the only true friend I've ever had."

Karin looked angry as well.

"You idiot!" She yelled back. "I've only known you for a week! How could you consider me a true friend? We barely know each other!"

Kichiro's grandmother sighed hopelessly at the two teenagers.

"Right. I'll leave you two to it. I'm going upstairs for a nap, so don't be too loud. Goodbye Karin."

With that, she got up and walked off, leaving Kichiro and Karin alone. Karin turned to the door, tears burning in her eyes, but she refused to show anyone. She managed to take a few steps before something caught her arm and stopped her. She turned her head to see Kichiro pull her back into the house.

"Karin…" He muttered. "Don't go."

Then in one swift motion, he pulled her into him and pressed his lips upon hers. He kissed her, passionately and with longing. Karin's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Kichiro's closed eyelids. But she made no intention to move or push him away. Kichiro saw this as an invitation and only kissed her harder. This seemed to pull Karin back into reality and she slapped him in the face before pulling herself away from him.

"Kichiro!" She shrieked hysterically. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Kichiro glanced at Karin in surprise. Then he avoided her burning eyes.

"I…I love you Karin." He admitted. "From the moment I set eyes on you I knew you were the one for me. I guess I never believed in love at first sight until I met you. And as the week passed, I only grew to like you more and more. I just wanted to know, before you left… if you loved me too."

Karin could only stare at him in shock.

"I thought you did like me, you know." Kichiro continued. "You didn't do anything to stop me when I kissed you." He looked up at her hopefully. "Does that mean…" He trailed off, waiting for Karin to answer.

_Why didn't I stop him when he kissed me? Why did I just stand there and let him steal away my first kiss? _

Karin knew her reflexes were good. She could've pushed him away before he even stated the kiss. So… why didn't she?

But Karin already knew the answer. No, she wasn't in love with Kichiro. Instead, when he had kissed her, she had imagined his hair turning white, his bright purple eyes turning a bright teal colour and she knew, she just knew that the white haired boy who resembled Kichiro so much was the one she had wanted to kiss.

"Kichiro…" She said quietly. "I'm in love with someone else."

Then she turned and shunpo'ed away before he could reply. Kichiro just stood in the kitchen, feeling like a complete idiot with tears of hurt and rejection cascading down his face.

"Karin…" He murmured. "You're wrong."

…

The morning sun sparkled off the teal eyes of a certain white haired taicho. He gave an annoyed sigh as he pulled down yet another sheet of paperwork.

"Matsumoto," He said tiredly. "Close the windows. The sun is annoying me."

Matsumoto got up quietly from her desk and went to shut the windows. Toshirou's eyebrows were raised in surprise as she obediently closed them, preventing anymore sunlight from streaming in. The room was shrouded in semi-darkness as Matsumoto walked back to her desk. Toshirou was genuinely surprised but he wasn't about to spoil it. They both went back to their work, basking in the comfort of the semi-darkness, all traces of sunlight gone.

"Taicho…"

Toshirou looked up in concern.

"Is there something wrong, Matsumoto?"

Matsumoto sighed. She got up doubtfully and walked over to Toshirou, ignoring the fact that his body stiffened slightly at her movement and his brush strokes became more frantic.

"Taicho I know something's bothering you. It's Karin, isn't it? You miss her and you feel like you've betrayed her again."

Toshirou didn't reply as he kept filling in his paperwork. But covered by his spiky white hair, his eyes were burning with his loss.

"Look taicho, she is a shinigami and she cannot change that fact. Sooner or later she will come to the shinigami academy and, being who she is, she will immediately be accepted into the Gotei 13. I promise, you'll see her again."

"Matsumoto," Toshirou interrupted wearily. "It's fine. I don't need nor want your reassurance. Please sit back at your desk and complete your assigned paperwork now."

Matsumoto put on her serious face and her tone told Toshirou that for once, she wasn't joking.

"Taicho, you're in love with Karin. You know that, I know that, she knows that. Didn't you hear her last words to you? 'I'll be waiting in Rukongai for you'. That's what she said, isn't it? And oh, don't give me a lecture now on eavesdropping on your conversations; it's for your own good, anyway. Now get your lazy ass off that chair and go search for her. Every girl needs a superhero. Even girls like Karin. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some drinking to catch up on. You'll know where to find me. And…" She added quickly before Toshirou could protest. "I've finished all my paperwork. Ciao!"

Toshirou looked in bewilderment at the neatly stacked pile of completed paperwork on Matsumoto's desk.

_That woman never ceases to surprise me. _He thought grimly as he got up slowly from his desk. Hours of non-stop paperwork had made him stiff and sore. He could feel a cramp coming on in his fingers.

_I can't believe that I'm actually taking her advice._

He placed a hand upon the hilt of his zanpakuto and shunpo'ed out his office.

…

The tears streamed out and flowed out behind her, catching the sparkle of the sunlight before disappearing into the air far behind her.

Karin couldn't stop them. They were flowing out too fast and against her will, there was nothing she could do to stop them. She berated herself in being weak. How could she cry merely because she was leaving a friend she had known only for a week? It didn't make any sense. She was strong, she was tough. So why was she crying?

She had to leave him. It wasn't a choice on whether or not she wanted to. She had become far too attached to him, it was unhealthy. Staying any longer would only tear her heart out when she had to leave again.

There was something about Kichiro. She had noticed it when they first met. It was the thing that kept telling her to return to him. That told her she was making a mistake in leaving him... again. Wait...Again? Since when had she ever left him before? These thoughts invaded her head and kept pressuring her until she felt she couldn't breathe.

Karin slowed down and eventually came to a complete standstill. She used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears that were currently flowing down her cheeks, but they kept coming and coming. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then started shunpo-ing again, trying to sort out her muddled thoughts.

There was something about Kichiro. She had that much. So what was it? His personality? His smile? His love for soccer...? His... appearance.

Of course.

All that time, she had never seen him for who he really was. She had looked at him and then watched in anticipation as she imagined his spiky black hair turning white and his striking purple eyes turning a brilliant shade of teal. There he was again; that mysterious white-haired boy. Who was he anyway? Why did he look so much like Kichiro?

Karin's heart sank as the realisation hit her.

She had only been using Kichiro. It was only because of his strong resemblance to the white haired boy that she had even become friends with him in the first place.

_All the more reason to leave then._ She thought grimly. Karin turned a quick corner and then she saw in front of her; in all its magnificence and glory, the Shinigami Academy.

She held her breath and quickly shunpo'ed through the crowd of students walking about, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that she was a zanpakuto-less shinigami. The young, untrained eyes of the unexperienced students didn't even notice Karin shunpo past. They merely felt a small breeze past them and shrugged it off as an unexpected wind.

This allowed Karin to navigate without much difficulty through the hallways, trying to find the sensei's office.

_God this place is so big. _She thought in frustration to herself. She then decided to try a new tactic. She stopped and hid herself in a dark corner while closing her eyes and trying to sense the strongest riatsu in the entire building. There it was! It seemed somehow quite familiar but Karin couldn't at all understand why or figure out who it was. She brushed it off as a coincidence and quickly shunpo'ed over to a small room in the very centre of the building. She cautiously opened the heavy wooden door into a small office.

Sitting behind the table was a woman with long, purple hair tied up in a high ponytail. She had bright golden eyes that seemed to sparkle with an I-am-smarter-than-you-and-I-know-it look as they moved. Karin couldn't help but notice that she strongly resembled a cat.

The woman looked up as the door opened. She grinned.

"Oh hey, Karin. What's up?"

Karin blinked in surprise.

"Umm... Do I know you?" She asked in confusion. The woman looked a little surprised but not offended and then her eyes took on a hint of amusement.

"Good morning, young lady." Her tone immediately switched to a more professional and dignified one. She looked at Karin in a steady gaze. "My name is Shihoin Yoruichi and I am the school's new head sensei. Is there anything I may help you with?"

Karin nodded.

"Umm yeah." She told Yoruichi everything, from since she woke up in Rukongai to when she walked into the doors of the shinigami academy. Yoruichi yawned and propped her legs up on the table, not seeming to be listening to Karin.

"Uhh... Shihoin sensei are you even listening?"

"Eh? Karin? Call me Yoruichi. Yeah I'm listening. You awoke as a shinigami in Rukongai and now you want me to help you regain your zanpakuto again, yeah?"

Karin nodded again, slightly freaked out by Yoruichi's seemingly many personalities. From laid-back to professional to being lazy.

"So can you help me?"

Yoruichi gazed at Karin from under a half-closed eye.

"That depends," She replied cheekily. "On if you're willing to be up for my training."

"Of course."

Yoruichi immediately jumped up from her desk.

"So what are you waiting for?" She ran out of the room, beckoning for Karin to follow. Karin ran after her, confused thoughts running around her mind.

* * *

**Haha, Yoruichi's the head sensei for the Shinigami Academy. But there IS a reason. Virtual cookies for those who can guess right.**

**Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Omg, so sorry about the wait. **

**There's been a few problems lately.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**But this chapter, my friends, is the longest chapter I have ever written. I hope that it makes it up to you.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Yoruichi watched Karin closely as she trained. She was a natural and she seemed to be falling comfortably back into her old style of fighting. It had already been a few weeks since Karin's surprise visit to the academy.

Yoruichi smiled ruefully as she recalled when Karin had first asked to be trained back in the real world.

_(Flashback)_

"_Yoruichi!"_

_Karin burst into the Urahara Shoten. The small black cat looked up startled, from the newspaper it had been scanning._

"_Karin?"_

_A surprisingly deep and masculine voice came out from the throat of the said cat. Karin slumped down next to the cat._

"_Yoruichi-san," she said seriously, "I have been thinking that ever since you told me Ichi-nii is a shinigami, I've decided…"_

"_That you want to be a shinigami too?"_

_Karin looked surprised but then closed her mouth and nodded._

"_I've always wanted to protect people. People like my sister, Yuzu. I want to help make a safer place to live in.," she said softly._

_Yoruichi looked away from her, as if contemplating the idea. But one glance at Karin's determined face made up her mind._

"_All right." She relented. "I'll train you. 6:00 pm sharp. Come down here every night from tomorrow onwards."_

_Karin grinned and jumped back onto her feet._

"_Cool! Thanks Yoruichi! I owe you one."_

_(Flashback end)_

_And now Karin, you owe me another one. _Thought Yoruichi with a smirk. _But I doubt you'll remember owing me the first one anyway since that happened whilst you were still human._

Yoruichi stood with her arms crossed, examining Karin as she trained tirelessly on one of the many training grounds at the shinigami academy.

Karin's black shinigami robes blew around in the strong wind, informing (or was it taunting?) that her shinigami powers were not yet lost. But merely forgotten.

Karin gave one final thrust with the make-do sword Yoruichi had lent her before Yoruichi called out to her.

"Karin! We'll call it a day."

Karin nodded and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it." She said, walking over to Yoruichi. "It's like I know all this already."

Yoruichi nodded.

"Good" she replied. "Because from now on, I'm going to be finding opponents for you to fight against."

Karin smirked.

"And I'll be ready to whoop their asses."

Yoruichi smirked as well. Karin never ceased to remind her how much she and her brother were alike. Of course, Karin was oblivious to this fact, as she didn't even know that she had a brother.

Yoruichi turned on her heel and started to walk away.

"You can go back to your dormitory." She called over her shoulder. "And have the rest of the day off."

Karin grinned.

"Wow, thanks! Should I meet you here at 7 am tomorrow as well?"

"Yeah." Yoruichi said just before she disappeared. "As per usual."

Karin nodded and shunpo'ed back in the direction of her dormitory.

After accepting her as a pupil, Yoruichi had assigned Karin an empty dormitory. It served as her refuge from the daily activities and all the other students who were now noticing her far too much.

…

The purple haired goddess of flash walked slowly back to her office in the academy. It was a long walk and it allowed her time to think and clear her mind.

_(Flashback)_

_Yoruichi leapt from building to building silently. Her nimble feet made almost no sound as they landed and pushed off. Landed and pushed off…_

_If any random passers-by looked up, they would see noting to arouse suspicion. Just a small black cat wandering around the buildings of Karakura Town._

_Yoruichi gave one last leap and then floated gracefully to the ground, landing noiselessly on her four padded feet. _

_She padded over to the entrance of the shop she had landed in front of and rapped firmly on the door. It immediately swung open and an excited looking shopkeeper picked her up._

"_Oh look! Yoruichi's here! Ahh, welcome back, Yoruichi! We missed you!" _

_The black cat rolled its eyes at the shopkeeper's overexcited remarks._

"_Put me down, Kisuke."_

_The shopkeeper loosened his arms and Yoruichi jumped out from them, landing on the ground once again. Urahara pulled open the door a little wider and with a flourish, invited Yoruichi to go inside. _

_Yoruichi walked into a small room and shut the door behind her. A few minutes later, she appeared again, in the body of a fully-grown woman, with long, loose flowing purple hair and wearing an orange jumper over a black turtleneck._

"_Kisuke," she sat down on a cushion placed opposite to the one Urahara was sitting on. "What did you want to tell me?"_

_Urahara nodded and put down the tea he was sipping._

"_I'm sure that you know about what happened to Kurosaki's younger sister. She was a pupil of yours, was she not?"_

_Yoruichi nodded._

"_Well," he continued. "I want you to become the new head sensei of the Shinigami Academy."_

_Yoruichi blinked._

"…"

_Urahara Kisuke grinned at her silence._

"_What I'm meaning to say is… I need you to go to Soul Society and do whatever you can to knock off the head sensei of the Shinigami Academy and take his job."_

"_And that relates to Kurosaki Karin because…?"_

"_Because it is something that I should know, and something that you need to find out."_

_Urahara flipped open his fan and began fanning himself, a move he tended to do whenever he felt like being overly dramatic._

_Yoruichi smirked._

"_It's not like I have anything better to do." She replied with a glint in her eyes. _

_Urahara smirked as well._

"_Good. I will be going up there occasionally to check on you and make sure that you're doing a good job. Of course, I can't go too often because being who I am; a smart, busy and extremely sexy shopkeeper, I need to be around to sell my merchandise."_

_Yoruichi nodded._

"_Yep. Sure. Whatever you say." She replied, her voice heavily layered with sarcasm. Then she yawned and got up. _

"_I need my sleep now. Night, Kisuke."_

"_Goodnight, Yoruichi. And don't forget! Have sweet dreams!"_

_(End Flashback)_

Yoruichi frowned, creasing her forehead and creating wrinkles.

_I think I know what you were trying to tell me, Kisuke. Karin needs to be trained and you set me up here so that I could train her._

Yoruichi began to walk faster, craving her afternoon nap.

_I will train her, to the best of my abilities. But for what purpose? I still don't understand._

…

Toshirou shunpo'ed quickly through the streets of Rukongai. The hungry, tired villagers barely even noticed the sudden wind that blew past them. Toshirou scanned each of the buildings quickly as he shot past them, but to no avail. He didn't catch a glimpse of the familiar locks of shoulder length black hair. Nor the piercing dark eyes. Sighing, he decided to return back to Seireitei and search the next day.

_At this rate,_ he thought glumly,_ it'd take me at least another couple of months to finish searching the whole of Rukongai South._

He could only sigh as he imagined how much more searching he would need to do.

…

Matsumoto sat, bored at the desk. Even her comfort sake had been locked up in some hidden cupboard whose location her taicho had refused to tell her.

_"There's a reason why I locked it up in the first place, Matsumoto. If you get all your work done then I might allow you to have some."_

She sighed, becoming more depressed by the minute. She dropped her head and was just about to nod off to sleep when an idea struck her. You could almost see the light bulb flashing over her head.

_This is ingenious._ She thought. _Only a genius such as myself could have thought of something so good. Even taicho didn't think of it._

Matsumoto grinned and shunpo'ed off in the direction of the shinigami academy.

…

Karin kicked open the door and walked into the small room. It was decorated blandly, with pale, creamy walls and a small wooden bed in a corner. There was an empty wooden bookshelf resting against one wall and a small writing desk positioned against another. A small door on the other side of the room opened up to reveal a small bathroom complete with a shower, bath, toilet and sink.

Karin frowned as she studied the room. She desperately needed to prep it up a little. It was so… boring.

The only interesting bit in the room was the window. It was huge, about 3 meters by 3 meters big. It almost covered the entire wall. The view that Karin had was beautiful. She looked down upon a fresh green field of open grass bursting with huge trees. It was almost always quite empty except for small birds that would land there to feed and play.

She sighed and fell back onto the bed. The decorating would have to wait. Right now, she was just so tired. So frigging tired…

"Zzz…"

It didn't take long for her to fall into a deep slumber. It was just a pity that she fell asleep just before the loud speaker turned on.

"**We have a Matsumoto Rangiku here, looking for a Kurosaki Karin. I repeat. We have a Matsumoto Rangiku here, looking for a Kurosaki Karin. Could Kurosaki Karin please hurry to the front desk right now where Matsumoto Rangiku is waiting? I repeat. Could Kurosaki Karin please hurry to the front desk right now where Matsumoto Rangiku is waiting."**

Karin mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Shut the effing hell up. You're hurting my ears." before rolling over and beginning to snore once more.

…

Matsumoto was waiting eagerly at the front desk, impatiently fiddling with the necklace that hung around her neck.

_Come on, Karin!_

The receptionist finished speaking into the loud speaker and turned to face her.

"There you go, Matsumoto-sama. If Kurosaki Karin heard that then she should be here any minute now."

Matsumoto nodded excitedly. She could just imagine her taicho's face lighting up when he saw Karin. Then he would reward his fukutaicho with an endless supply of sake. She could drink until she burst!

Of course, there was always the hangover to deal with but whatever! She could deal with that later. Matsumoto licked her lips in anticipation of the sake coming her way.

A few minutes past.

A few more minutes.

The receptionist and Matsumoto glanced at each other.

"…"

Matsumoto began chewing on her bottom lip.

_Where is she?_ She wondered. _Why is she taking so long?_

The receptionist looked sympathetically at the fukutaicho.

"Why don't you stay a little longer?" She offered. "But if she doesn't come in another 15 minutes I'm afraid you're going to have to leave."

Matsumoto nodded anxiously.

_Hurry up, Karin._

…

_The soccer ball flew towards her. If she didn't react right now it would hit her face. Come on. She willed her legs to move, for her arms to shield her face. Anything. But nothing happened. She could only watch in horror as it flew towards her._

_A flash of white._

_Where'd it go? She wondered._

_The white slowly ate up her vision, starting from the corners. Already, the sides of her vision were starting to blur._

_What's happening to me? She thought, starting to panic._

_The white spread across her whole vision, so she could see nothing but white. Bright, gleaming white._

_Two small pinpricks of colour appeared in the middle of the white. What were they?_

_Blue? No. It was too green to be blue. But… it wasn't green either._

_Teal. She finally decided._

_The pinpricks of colour grew bigger and with a faint horror, she realised that they were eyes. Teal eyes. Staring unblinkingly at her._

_Go away! She wanted to shout. But nothing happened._

_The eyes blinked and a small tear rolled out of them._

_Karin stared curiously at the tear. It rolled off the last eyelash and disappeared into nothing. Then another tear came. Soon, the eyes were crying uncontrollably. Karin willed her arms to move, and with surprise she found that she could move them quite effortlessly._

_She wiped the tears away from the eye._

_"There, there." She said softly. "Don't cry. I'm here now."_

_A small mouth appeared. It was scowling._

_"No you're not." It replied. "You're not here for me. You've gone. Forever."_

_What? Karin wanted to shout._

_"I was always here for you!"_

_She didn't know where the always had come from. She didn't even know what was happening._

_"Not anymore, you're not."_

Karin woke with a start. She looked around, dazed, at her surroundings and reality seemed to flow back into her. She sighed in relief and jumped off the bed. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall.

**1:27**

She had been sleeping for nearly 3 hours.

_What a weird dream._ She thought. Shrugging, Karin walked over to the bathroom and jumped into the shower.

As usual, the warm water soothed her aching limbs and she breathed the steam in deeply. A few minutes later, when she walked out, she couldn't even remember what the dream was.

But it hardly mattered to her.

Only, it should.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

**Hey!**

**I'm back!**

**I wrote this chapter kinda fast and I'm super proud of myself. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach (unless you count the washing powder thing and I don't even fully own that because it belongs to my mum)**

**Enjoy!**

_

* * *

_

_Sometimes, it takes more than a mirror to see what you look like._

"Kurosaki Karin has lost it."

_After all, a mirror never shows you who you are on the inside._

"Lost what?"

_A mirror can show only what you look like on the outside. _

"…"

_But who you are on the inside. That is completely up to you._

Yoruichi sighed.

"She's lost herself."

"…"

"She's forgotten a part of herself. And unless she finds it, I'm afraid she'll never be who she really was again."

"…And who was she?"

Yoruichi glared darkly at the man.

"Kisuke, I'm not in the mood for your jokes today."

Urahara Kisuke sighed dramatically.

"Oh fine, fine. But what do you want me to do about it?"

"Help her."… Pause … "Regain her memories."

…

Ichigo stared at Urahara blankly.

"So… my sister has dyed her hair pink and has learnt how to play a bright green instrument that is a cross between a flute and a piano and is currently on a road trip across Soul Society using not a car but shunpo?"

Urahara Kisuke nodded seriously.

"That is exactly what haAHHHH HAH HAH HAH HAH!" Finally he couldn't contain himself anymore.

"YOU. ACTUALLY. BELIEVED. ME!" He gasped between his laughs. Ichigo's eyes widened and his face reddened.

"I DID NOT!" He replied angrily. But his stubborn face told otherwise.

Urahara didn't reply as he was still rolling on the ground laughing.

A few more seconds passed and he slowly pulled himself up off the ground, shaking his head in disbelief. Ichigo felt his cheeks burning and he refused to look at the crazy shopkeeper.

Then Urahara started talking in his normal voice.

"What actually happened is that Karin is currently in Soul Society and is undergoing training by Yoruichi. All her memories have been erased and she has no idea who you are, or who anyone else is for that matter."

Ichigo nodded, feeling a lump in his throat.

"Can I… see her?"

Urahara glanced at him seriously.

"You may see her if you wish. But I'm sure whether you will be able to withstand it. It is terrible emotional trauma to anyone in this predicament and my advice is to fully mentally prepare yourself for a few days or even a few weeks before seeing her."

Ichigo shook his head.

"Nah, I wanna see her now. I need to see her now. Just to make sure that she's alright."

Urahara nodded.

"Very well. Step aside, Kurosaki."

Ichigo hurriedly moved out of the way and watched as Urahara slowly opened up a Senkai Gate into Soul Society. He pressed his shinigami badge into his chest and felt the familiar exhilarating sensation of leaving his body and becoming a shinigami.

Urahara Kisuke gave him a noiseless nod and Ichigo stepped into the gate, his desire to see his sister overwhelming every other issue.

…

Karin stepped back to admire her handiwork. Yesterday, after her shower, she had gone to the market and brought some things with the money that Yoruichi had given her.

She had now transformed her room into something completely unrecognisable. One wall was now painted in various shades of pale red and another, in various shades of pale green. Then it was blue and finally a wall with many different shades of purple. Her small wooden bed had soft honey brown covers and her bookshelf had been stocked up with soccer balls varying in size and colour.

Karin grinned. This was now perfect. It was completely her style. Colourful and bursting with energy. Briefly, she wondered what her style had been as a human. Had it been the same as it was now? Or had she changed?

Karin went to the bathroom and inspected her black as midnight hair. If her hair was this black as a human, surely she couldn't have been too colourful.

Karin made a mental note to change the colour of her hair.

Her cell phone rang.

After her first training lesson, Yoruichi had provided Karin with a cell phone. It was white and flip up.

"You'll probably need this. It already has my number on it. And when I need you I can just call you with it."

Karin had just taken it without a second thought. It didn't really matter to her anyway.

She picked up the mobile and with one sweeping motion, she flipped open the cover and held it up next to her ear.

"Hello? Yoruichi?"

She immediately assumed that it would be Yoruichi considering the fact that no one else knew her number.

"Oh hey, Karin. Could you come down here? I'm on the training field closest to the soccer oval."

"Yeah, okay. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just want to go over some techniques is all."

But the way she said it made Karin suspect something else.

"Fine. I'll be there in 5."

Flipping the mobile closed, she shunpo'ed out of the room and in the direction of the training field.

…

Kurosaki Ichigo stood impatiently beside Yoruichi. He shoved his hands behind his head and started pacing around as he waited for his sister to arrive. Yoruichi scowled at him.

"Stop fidgeting." She growled. "You're worrying over nothing. Karin's perfectly healthy."

"Yeah? I won't believe it until I see it."

…

When Karin arrived, she saw that Yoruichi was in fact, being accompanied by another man. He looked no older that 25 and had bright, spiky orange hair that stuck up in all directions. He was tall. Very tall.

Karin squinted as she looked at his face. The sun was shining directly behind his head so she couldn't see him properly. But from what she could see, she gathered that he was scowling. He was staring at Karin curiously with an angry frown on her face.

What a weird man.

Karin ignored him and walked over to Yoruichi.

"So, what's up?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the orange haired man cough loudly. It looked suspiciously like he was trying to tell Yoruichi something. Yoruichi seemed to be ignoring him too and she turned to Karin.

"Hey Karin. Thanks for coming. This here…" she indicated to Ichigo. "Is a friend of mine. He wants to see some of your techniques and the way you fight."

Ichigo looked a little surprised but had enough sense to shut his mouth. He merely nodded and tried to look interested. But it was hard, especially when your sister had no idea who you were and was glaring intensely at you.

"No." Karin replied curtly, turning to Ichigo and giving him the coldest look she could possibly summon. She turned to leave.

"The way I fight, the way I train is absolutely none of his nosy business. He has no right to watch me. And next time," she called over her shoulder, "Tell him to butt out of my personal life."

Yoruichi eyes widened in surprise and she looked over to Ichigo. Ichigo was scowling once more and turned his head away from either of the females.

_Healthy. Yes, she is very healthy. _Pricks were beginning to form at the sides of his eyes and he made no move to stop them.

Karin was walking off and her made no move to stop her.

_Damnit!_ He thought. _What am I supposed to do now? What kind of brother am I?_

Yet he still couldn't bring himself to confront her.

Yoruichi sighed.

"I tried." She told him and turned to walk away.

Ichigo nodded in appreciation. But still, he couldn't stop the tears that were threatening to spill out. His own sister, telling him to butt out of her personal life.

_I __**am**__ part of your personal life. _He thought bitterly, watching her retreating form as she ran off. _You just don't remember me._

…

Matsumoto walked dejectedly back to the 10th division. Toshirou was waiting for her; eyes narrowed and scowl in place.

"Matsumoto, where have you been?"

Matsumoto lifted her blank eyes to meet the furious ones of her taicho's.

"Me?" She muttered. "I've been trying to save your butt."

Toshirou frowned. Save him? He wasn't in any sort of danger, why would she want to save him?

"What do you mean by that?" His voice came out a little sharper than he intended it to.

Matsumoto glared angrily at him.

"While you've been sulking and fruitlessly searching Rukongai, I actually thought of a plan to find Karin!"

Toshirou's eyes widened considerably.

"Karin?" He asked confusedly. "What's Karin got to do with this?"

"Karin has everything to do with this! Can't you get it through your thick skull that you're not the only one who's worried about Karin! Me! I was Karin's friend too! Or can you not remember that either?"

Toshirou's shocked face told her everything. She turned her face away from him and cursed under her breath. Then she turned once more to face him.

_SMACK!_

Toshirou froze as her hand came down upon his cheek. He felt the stinging start to burn his flesh and the heat coming off his skin. He knew without looking that his cheek would be red.

Matsumoto seemed to freeze.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

Toshirou focused his eyes on her. Her hand was still raised in the air from the impact of her slap and her body was bent downwards. Her hair fell over her face, shielding it from his view.

"Matsumoto…"

Matsumoto stood up slowly and Toshirou saw her face. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy and they glistened with tears.

"I couldn't find her." She confessed softly.

She turned to leave once more to do… god knows what she was going to do. Toshirou just stared after her. After a few seconds passed he seemed to regain his senses.

"Thank you Matsumoto. For everything." He told her retreating back softly.

Matsumoto paused for a second before continuing to walk out. But because she was facing the opposite way, he missed the small smile that graced her lips.

"You're welcome." She whispered.

And Toshirou heard this; a small, sad smile fell onto his lips as he did so.

* * *

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**Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Chapter 11 **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Ichigo glared sullenly out the window of his office. A small raven black head popped around the corner and frowned when she saw him.

"Taicho! Stop moping about!"

Ichigo looked up, surprised.

"I'm not moping."

"Yes you are! Now wipe that stupid scowl off your face. Go do something to cheer up. Oh, I know! How about I'll take you out to ice-cream?"

"…"

"Great! Come with me, taicho! I know this fantastic ice-cream parlour! Yachiru took me there once and it was so good!"

"I-I can't… I'm busy."

"Busy doing what? Moping?"

"No! I'm supposed to be doing paperwork!"

"Aww taicho. Why don't you just forget about your paperwork for once? Leave it to me. I'll finish it for you."

Ichigo looked up at the smiling face of his fukutaicho and sighed.

"Fine. Just this once, though."

"Yay! You'll love it, taicho! I just know it!"

"Sure I will." He grumbled as he was pushed out of the room.

In a way, Hinamori Momo was Ichigo's Rukia when Rukia wasn't there. She cheered him up when he was sad and was always dependant on for help. Ichigo was thankful to have her by his side. If it weren't for her, he would never have been able to pull through the things that troubled him most. Namely Karin.

Momo never asked questions. She just accepted when he needed his alone time or when he needed to be with a friend. She always knew what to say and what to do and for this, Ichigo was grateful.

…

"That big nosed bastard."

Karin walked from one side of the room to another.

"He wanted to see my techniques. My SECRET techniques."

She stopped and glared out the window before pacing once more.

"As if I'd show him, the idiot."

"I don't even know him. He's a complete stranger to me."

At this sentence Karin paused and licked her dry lips. She willed herself to continue but found she couldn't. The next sentence she was about to say yelled out from her mind.

_Seriously I'd kill myself if I were ever related to him._

But as much as she tried, she couldn't bring those words out of her mouth.

"That's funny." She wondered out loud and found that she could say anything but that sentence.

"Orange juice."

"I like to eat ham and cheese."

"There is no such thing as swine flu."

"Blue jelly."

She frowned. She was no child prodigy but she knew that something or another was going on. Sighing, she walked into the bathroom just for something to do.

Catching sight of herself in the mirror, Karin briefly remembered what she had thought just before she had left to see Yoruichi and 'that damned orange headed bastard'.

She picked up a strand of black hair and tugged it, feeling the reality of it all. Then she grinned and shunpo'ed out her room.

…

It didn't take too long.

And for that she was grateful, she still had some training to catch up to. Otherwise Kichiro would be booting her ass for her laziness. Not that she deserved it. Her soccer skills were already high above his, as if he could have the nerve to reprimand _her _for slacking off.

But he could. And she knew he could. And so she raced back to the academy as fast as she could to burn off some unneeded energy and go over her techniques. Her dark red hair had extensions and was flying behind her as she shunpo'ed in the direction of the Shinigami academy.

She scanned her phone quickly for the time.

Shit, it was already 5:00. The hairdressers must have taken longer than she had thought. Her curfew to be outside on the ovals was 6:30. She had to be quick if she wanted a decent amount of time to train.

Karin quickly calculated the sums.

It would take her approximately another three quarters of an hour to get back to Seireitei. Then she had to get the head of training ground's permission to train on the academy's oval. That would take about 10-15 minutes if she were lucky.

And that would leave her with about 30 minutes to play soccer.

Dammit. She had to be fast.

…

Toshirou sighed and got up from his desk. He checked the time from a clock hanging on his wall.

5:15.

He might as well go look for Karin again. He had a few hours to kill. His curfew was not until 9:00.

He picked up Hyourinmaru, (just in case), and walked slowly towards the door.

It swung open and a surprisingly sober looking Matsumoto walked in.

"Oh hey, taicho." She looked suspiciously at him. "Where are you going?"

"Out."

"Why don't you try the North Rukongai today? You might have better luck than from the South Rukongai."

"If I have time, I will."

"Okay, good luck."

"Thank you."

Then he left, and within seconds, Matsumoto concluded, he had left the building.

…

Karin hated interruptions. And today was no different. She was in a hurry, freaking hell.

_Stupid shinigami. _She thought angrily as she picked herself off the ground.

The white haired shinigami looked at her in surprise as she rejected his offer to help her up.

"I'm sorry about that." He said quietly.

Karin glared at him.

"Yeah you should be. I'm late now."

She was already late before but hey, did it really matter?

…

Toshirou looked at the rude and off-putting girl before him in surprise and frowned.

"That's no way to speak to a Captain of the Gotei 13."

"Oh so you're a captain?" She asked sarcastically.

He nodded distractedly. Her red hair was really kind of putting him off. It didn't suit her in the least.

"What did you say about my hair?" She growled.

_Shit. _He thought. _I said that out loud? _

Karin didn't give him time to reply.

"Well I could say that your hair looks so completely fake and that you bleached it and it looks so unnaturally off but I didn't now, did I?" She screeched angrily.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? But I'm busy and I need to find someone. By the way, it's completely natural. My hair, I mean."

Karin huffed in annoyance and turned away.

"Yeah? Don't mind me, I'll be leaving riiiiiiiiiight… NOW!"

She shot off back in the direction of Seireitei fuming at the way he treated her so unrespectfully.

_He had the nerve to say that my red hair didn't suit me?_ She thought angrily.

But she had to admit, even though she had said the opposite, his hair did suit him.

…

Toshirou shook his head in disbelief at her directness and shunpo'ed off. That red-haired girl was really annoying. She was so rude and impolite. She didn't even care that he was at the rank of a captain.

Toshirou sighed again. She was a girl who believed in democracy.

_- So much like another he was trying to find. -_

_

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	12. Chapter 12

**Homg, wrote this one super fast.**

**Usually I take about a week to write a chapter, type it and upload it. But this time I wrote, typed AND uploaded in one night.**

**Uber proud of myself.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The green grass, the sweat, the laboured breathing, it was all part of the excitement. She imagined the screaming crowds in the packed stands chanting her name over and over again.

Over and over again…

"Kurosaki! Kurosaki! Kurosaki!"

This was it. The final goal.

Her foot swung back heavily and then forwards, impacting with the ball. It flew through the air. Twisting and turning.

A flash of black. A flash of white.

That's what it was.

Black and white.

Two of the most opposite shades placed together in a never-ending pattern. That was what soccer was about. Bringing opposites together.

The ball fell back into the net, and stopped abruptly on the ground. Karin smiled softly to herself and ran to pick up the ball.

Time was up.

She retrieved the ball and hooked it securely under arm. Then she turned and shunpo'ed back to her dormitory.

6:30.

On the dot.

…

Searching was hopeless. Not when the will to find what you're looking for had died.

Never in his life Toshirou had imagined that anything could make him doubt Karin. She was the spark of his life. His will to continue.

But now she was gone.

He had to search for her. He needed to search for her. But to what avail? He was never going to find her. He didn't want to accept the truth. He couldn't accept the truth. But the truth was the truth and it couldn't be ignored. She was but a mere memory in his head.

And memories get forgotten.

His shunpo slowed down to a fast running and he found that he was running aimlessly around Rukongai. Was he even trying to find her? He didn't know.

He was running. But not to something. From something. He was running from something.

The truth. He realised. He was running from the truth.

Small droplets of water running from his hair down his face told him that it was raining.

Like he cared.

He stopped at a small open field of grass. The grass had yellowed with age and nobody had bothered to regrow it. A small lonesome soccer ball sat unwanted on the edge of the field.

Somewhere nearby an old woman was yelling at her grandson.

"Kichiro! Get back inside! It's just about to pour!"

"No wait, grandma! She's going to come and visit us today. I know she will!"

"Don't get your hopes up, child. She has a happy life up there. I don't blame her for not coming back down here where we are poor and have no money."

"No. She's not like that. I know her. Here. I have an idea. I'll shout out her name real loudly and if she hears me she will come running."

The old lady sighed.

"Okay. Your chances are slim but why don't you give it a try."

The boy took a deep breath.

"KA-"

At this Toshirou blocked his ears with his hands. He didn't want to hear one more word from this small family.

Quite obviously the sister had left somewhere, god knows where and her little brother was waiting for her to come back.

Toshirou felt sorry for them. He too knew what it felt like to lose somebody you loved dearly. But it didn't mean that he was ready to share their pain. He knew, just hearing the boy's voice shout out her name would cause him to lose his own self-control.

He couldn't risk that.

Not here. Not now.

He had to get over her first.

The rain, as the old lady has predicted, was pouring down and Toshirou lifted a hand to touch his cheek.

It was wet.

Well, quite obviously it was wet. It was raining. He was soaked. But something told him otherwise.

He wasn't… crying was he?

But the warmth and the wetness of his eyes confirmed the truth. And Toshirou stood heartbroken in the rain, crying like there was no tomorrow.

…

**Dear Yuzu and Dad,**

**I am sorry to inform you but I must stay where I am for a while longer. Please do not worry or concern yourselves over me. This is an important matter that I must attend to. I hope that you are well and are faring without me.**

**Love,**

**Ichigo.**

He signed the letter and slipped it into a small envelope. Then he passed it silently into the hands of Urahara Kisuke.

"Deliver it safely to them." He muttered quietly.

Urahara nodded and stepped through the Senkai gate back into the real world. Ichigo watched the doors close behind him, wondering if things were ever going to get better.

Momo stood beside him silently. She tried to understand his position. But how could she? When nothing like that had ever happened to her before.

She placed a comforting hand upon his arm. He turned to face her and she gave him a small, sad smile. He tried to smile in return but it was painful.

Have you ever tried smiling when it felt like your world was crumbling into pieces?

Yeah, it hurts.

…

Toshirou turned and raced back in the direction of Seireitei. His heart was desperately trying to mend itself.

_Stitches. _He thought bitterly. _Stitches over stitches._

What he needed was a fire. A fire to melt the wounds and make them disappear. But he didn't have a fire. All he had was ice. And slowly, his heart was beginning to freeze once more.

The frozen heart of somebody who couldn't stand loving when there wasn't anything to love for anymore.

Except for the memories...

_"Oi Toshirou! Come see what I found!"_

"_It's a mushroom."_

"_But look how pretty it is!"_

"_It's a mushroom."_

"_Come on! Can't you see the small dots on the surface?"_

"_Yeah. It's a mushroom, Karin."_

"_I know that!"_

_"Yeah, you should."_

-oo00oo-

_He stood on the corner of the railing, staring out at the sunset._

"_Hey there, snowy boy."_

"_Karin." He said suddenly. "Have you ever wanted to fly?"_

"_Fly?" She grinned. "Of course! Who doesn't want to fly? The feeling of being completely airborne! Of being on top of the world!"_

_Toshirou smiled at her childishness as she ran around everywhere, pretending to fly. He took a small camera out of his pocket and focused it on her._

_Click._

_A memory captured and frozen in time._

Memories…

_Let them go._

_Let them all go._

That's what he told himself. He needed to get over her.

He let loose all of the happy times they had together. All their favoured memories. They fluttered into the sky and disappeared in the night.

If only he had known better.

If only.

But luckily for Toshirou, if something was truly loved, you could never fully let go of it.

_

* * *

_**R&R Please!**

**This chapter was a bit moody/angsty. Hope you'll forgive me.**

**Oh and to anyone who's wondering. I'm not about to make it Ichigo x Momo. It may sound like it, but Momo is really just a supporting friend. I needed somebody to cheer him up and Momo seemed perfect for the job.**

**Oh and something else! I got a poll on my profile that I want everyone to check out. It's been there awhile but I need some more votes. It's about what pairing I should write about next.**

**Thanks a bunch!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 - Kasen Kasai**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**Enjoy!**

_

* * *

The rain splattered down the window. A small drop slid slowly down the glass._

Karin placed her hand on the glass and watched in silent fascination as the area around it fogged up from her body heat.

_The drop paused slightly and hesitated just before it hit another one. Hesitant. But only for a split second._

Karin smiled to herself and traced smiley faces on the fogged up window.

_They connected and slipped into each other, merging into one._

She stood up and walked away. The corners of the smiles dripped down the windowpane.

_The pressure was too great. Gravity was too strong. The two raindrops glided smoothly down the glass and dropped off the edge, back down to the ground. Where they melted slowly into the soft, damp earth._

_But they would never be separated. Ever._

…

A vibration on her table told her that somebody was calling her. She picked up the mobile.

"Hey, Yoruichi?"

"Karin. Good news. Come down here right now and I'll tell you."

"Umm… now?"

Karin glanced down at her sleeping yukata; she was just about to hop into bed.

"Yoruichi it's 11pm. I don't think I'm allowed to be out at this time."

"Karin! You're not even a proper academy student. The rules don't fully apply to you. Plus, I'm Head of the Academy. I'm the one who set those rules in the first place. So come down here, right now. I'm at Training Field 17, near the lake."

Karin sighed and fiddled with the cloth of her yukata, twisting it in between her thumb and forefinger.

"Fine then. Give me a few minutes to change first. I was just about to go to bed."

"Hurry up."

She flipped the phone closed and set it down on her table. Then she brought out her shinigami uniform. Having washed it the night before, it was finally clean and pressed neatly. She put it on, feeling it drape over her shoulders comfortably. Then she grabbed the wooden sword Yoruichi had given her and shunpo'ed out the door.

…

"Karin!" Yoruichi called when she saw her.

"Hey." Karin slid to a halt in front of her. "What's the good news that kept me out of bed?"

Yoruichi's eyes were glowing.

"They're giving out early acceptances of shinigami students into the Gotei 13 because of some warning from a girl in the real world. Apparently she died and got sent to Soul Society but left a warning that Aizen was planning to attack soul Society in the winter."

She bit her lip to refrain from saying anything more.

Karin noticed this.

"And?" She asked.

"Well, I was thinking of letting you go for the exam. You're already so skilful with your wooden sword that I can imagine how strong you'll be once you gain your zanpakuto back."

Karin nodded slowly. Obviously Yoruichi knew more than what she was saying.

"Yoruichi," She said quietly. "How did I lose my zanpakuto in the first place? And how did I become a shinigami without training?"

Yoruichi paled slightly and looked away.

"Why are you asking me?" She replied. "How am I supposed to know?"

Karin narrowed her eyes at the purple haired woman. Yoruichi pretended not to notice; a move that she had, over time, learnt to master.

…

Matsumoto knew him well.

"No luck?" She asked him softly when he returned to the room, windswept and chilled to the bone. His eyes were also slightly red and his gaze seemed distant.

She wondered whether he had been crying. Surely he hadn't. The tenth division captain never cried.

Toshirou looked up at her in faint surprise.

"No luck?" He echoed quietly.

She nodded. He shook his head slowly.

"No luck." He murmured quietly.

Matsumoto pained to see him in such a state. She knew something had happened to make him like this. She tried to hide her concern by fussing over him.

"Taicho put a jacket on. You'll catch a cold. Oh, wear a scarf too; your neck might be a little chilly. Actually you know what? Just take a warm shower and I'll find something warm for you to change into, okay?"

She held his arm, not wanting to let go, in case he ran away like a lost child trying to find where they belonged.

"Get off me Matsumoto." He muttered, shaking her hand off him. "I can take care of myself."

Matsumoto gave a pained smile.

"I know you can, taicho. But right now you're soaked and freezing. Just let me help you get some dry clothes while you take a shower."

"Matsumoto. I said, I can take care of myself."

"But…"

"Leave me alone."

"I'm sorry."

Toshirou looked up at her tiredly.

"Okay."

…

Karin felt her breath coming out in quick gasps. Her hands were hot and sweaty as she gripped her wooden sword.

_You can do it. _She told herself. _Just keep going._

Yoruichi stood off to the side, frowning. Karin's ability was rising fast, but who knew how long it would take her to regain her zanpakuto? Once a zanpakuto is lost, it takes much persuasion to regain it back. Much more than usual.

Karin fought against her opponent in a fierce battle. The young boy seemed slightly intimidated by her ability. Nevertheless, he had the upper advantage with his zanpakuto.

"Flash! Kuro Kaminari!" (Black lightning)

Karin growled under her breath as he released his zanpakuto. She flipped over to avoid his attack and then swung her sword forward just in time to avoid being hit. He stopped attacking all of a sudden and brought his sword forward, it's blade facing the heavens.

He muttered something low under his breath and all of a sudden, a quick flash of lightning struck the area a few millimetres away from Karin. Her eyes widened in surprise and the boy smirked.

"That wasn't supposed to hit you." He informed her. "I just wanted to prepare you for my abilities."

Karin shook her hair out of her face and wiped the surprise off her face. Replacing it with a smirk of her own, she grinned.

"Bring it on!" She crowed. The boy grinned at her enthusiasm; he brought the sword in front of him once more and muttered something under his breath. The now familiar flash of black lightning came crashing down.

But Karin was ready this time, she jumped backwards to avoid it and did a quick flip over it as it hit the earth and landed behind the boy. She brought her sword around his shoulder and proceeded to place it in front of his neck. But he was too quick for her.

He ducked out of her hold and shunpo'ed behind her, slicing her shoulder and arm swiftly as he went. Karin's eyes widened in shock and she fell to her knees, clutching her right arm painfully. Drops of dark red blood stained her clothes and slowly dripped to the floor. The boy smirked and dropped his defence.

Karin gave a slow smile as he did so.

_That's your mistake. _She thought. _Never ever drop your defence. _

Ignoring the pain in her injured arm, she switched hands on her sword and did a quick flip to try and catch his neck again.

She should have known better. He only ducked out of her hold once more and flipped around her again.

"Tsk tsk." He grinned. "You made the same mistake again."

Karin felt new gashes appear on her right arm and she did her best to try and stay conscious. She was losing blood fast.

_Damnit. _She thought. _I can't lose. I can't! Karin… doesn't lose…!_

She was plunged into a world of darkness.

Then the light slowly appeared and she realised she was sitting beside a huge river. The river was a deep blue colour and the sky was shrouded in the brilliant colours of sunset.

A woman was standing not far from her. She had long, flowing pure black hair and startlingly bright green eyes. She looked over at Karin for a mere second before turning her blank eyes over to the river.

"**Karin." **She spoke but her lips didn't move.

"Who are you?"

"**You cannot remember me? I am sad, Karin."**

Karin watched the woman's face and saw no change in emotion as she said this. Finding it odd, Karin pressed on.

"What do you mean? How do you know my name?"

"**I've been with you, ever since you were a human."**

"Like… a guardian angel?"

The woman sighed.

"**Yes a bit like that. I can help you, Karin. I can give you the power to reach your true potential."**

"…"

"**Call my name, Karin. You know it. You knew it from the first day you were born. Shout it out to the heavens!"**

At this, the woman turned around to finally face Karin. Her black hair turned a flaming red and her green eyes bore into Karin's own brown ones.

Karin closed her eyes and felt herself being pulled back into reality.

She opened her eyes. The boy she was fighting against pulled in for a final attack.

"Destroy! Kasen Kasai!" (River fire)

Her wooden sword disappeared and melted into a sharp metallic blade that flashed brightly in the colours of the sunset. Ribbons were carved across the silvery green hilt.

A river. Karin realised. Her wounds were healing and the blood dripped slowly to a stop. Her new sword sliced through her opponents' swiftly. His blade was detached from the hilt and it clinked loudly as it fell to the ground. The boy looked up at her in surprise.

Karin didn't smile; she narrowed her eyes and shunpo'ed behind him and caught him in a headlock. And her last attempt worked. She pressed her blade gently to his neck, allowing one or two drops of blood to be spilled, ending the battle. Defenceless and with no means of attacking, the boy slumped in her arms, exhausted.

Karin placed him gently on the ground and let a medic Yoruichi had hired to heal him.

Yoruichi's eyes were gleaming.

"Karin!" She said joyfully, "You've regained your zanpakuto!"

Karin looked up at Yoruichi tiredly.

"Yeah." She said a little breathlessly. "I guess I have."

* * *

**R&R Please!**

**Karin finally regained her zanpakuto!**

**It's name is Kasen Kasai and it's ability is yet unknown.**

**She has been training hard and as Yoruichi said, she might get into the Gotei 13!**

**Okay, thanks guys. **

**Review please!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, sorry for the late update. I've been busy during the holidays. But now my busy days are almost over (too bad school's about to start) but hopefully ill be able to get another chapter up before school.**

**Disclaimer: Bleach isn't mine.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

If he had known that it would turn out this way, he would never have agreed to her. He didn't care how selfless or how magnanimous she was. She could become the most kindest person in the universe, if that's what she wanted. He would help her do that, if that's what she really wanted. He had only one condition. That she do everything and make all her decisions to include _him._

But her latest decision now really pissed him off. _Why _did she have to care so badly for the people in the real world? _Why _would she sacrifice _their _relationship for _that_? Sure, it was her job to care for them. But not to that degree.

Toshirou glared out the window. He felt like screaming at her now. Because he knew, he would never be able to find her again. And he knew that her last simple decision had been the cause of the end of their relationship.

_Get over her. Right. Stop thinking about her. Karin ends right NOW. _

Toshirou closed his eyes for a short second and when he reopened them. His burning loss was replaced with a cold, fierce determination. Karin was history. It was her decision and he was to respect that. It wasn't like she was trying to find him anyway. It wasn't like she even cared about him anymore either. It wasn't like she even knew who he was anymore.

_Okay. STOP THAT. _

Toshirou sighed. He felt alone. Lonely. Different. Cold, and it seemed like nothing was ever going to warm him ever again.

"Matsumoto?"

Matsumoto had been watching him fearfully the whole time.

"Taicho?"

"How much paperwork have you finished?"

"Already one stack, taicho!"

"Ok. Finish the rest, please."

Matsumoto stared at the remaining 6 piles on her table in disbelief. She gave a shaky laugh.

"Heh heh. Taicho, I think I must have heard you wrong. Did you just say to finish…"

"The rest. Oh and the 4 piles on my desk as well. I'm going out."

Matsumoto's eyes popped out of her head. 10 MORE PILES! That would take at least another 3 days to complete. And that would include cancelling all her drinking sessions with Hisagi as well.

AND the manicure session she had arranged for tomorrow.

AND the hot spa treatment she had planned for relaxing after 1 pile of paperwork.

This… this… this was…

TAICHO WAS TRYING TO RUIN HER LIFE.

"Matsumoto!"

"H-H-Hai?"

"Get to work."

Grumbling angrily to herself, Matsumoto pulled down the first sheet of her second pile.

…

Stepping back out into the fresh breeze of Soul Society, it felt like he had never left on that blasted mission. Like he had never met Karin. All seemed at peace.

Toshirou took a deep breath and started walking. Calmly appreciating the scenery around. New winter plants had started blooming, he noted. Crocuses, snowdrops, hellebores and… winter blossoms.

Toshirou widened his eyes and ran over to the winter blossom tree. The white petals seemed unnourished and lacking the bright glow they usually held. The branches drooped slightly and seemed on the verge of snapping. The whole tree seemed to project weariness and hopelessness.

Toshirou touched a flower gently with the tip of his finger and to his horror, the small amount of pressure he had applied was more than it could handle. The snowy white flower disconnected from the branch and fell pitifully onto the frozen ground.

_(Flashback)_

_One flower._

_Two flowers._

_Three flowers._

_The glowing radiance of the winter blossom tree lessoned as each of the flowers fell off. One by one they dropped. _

_Down._

_And down again._

"_No."_

_Another._

"_No!"_

_The white haired young boy clutched a flower that had just fallen off the tree._

"_Please. Make it stop."_

_Drop._

_His grandmother looked on sadly. But no matter how sad they both looked, it made no difference to the tree. It just continued on letting all it's flowers go._

_Drop._

_Tears started dripping down the boys' face. _

"_Grandma! Why is it losing flowers so fast? Stop it! Make it stop!"_

_Drop._

_Drop. Drop._

"_There's nothing we can do about it, child. Just let them go. Everything will turn out in the end."_

"_No! You keep saying that. But nothing will happen anyway."_

"_Child. Winter blossoms are special trees. In our world, when winter blossoms have begun to end its life, first the flowers fall. When all the branches are bare, the spirit particles just… float away. Disappear. And then the tree is gone. Forever. Until somebody plants a new one in it's place. It's nothing that we can stop."_

_Seeing no change in the child's desperate expression, the grandmother sighed and turned him around to face her instead. She pulled him in close to her and hugged him, comforting him._

"_Its alright." She murmured. "You'll always be my very own winter blossom. And you'll never wither away, I'll make sure of it."_

_(Flashback end)_

Drop.

Drop. Drop.

The flowers began dropping one by one onto the floor at his feet.

Toshirou just stared unseeingly into the depths of the branches, sadness welling up within him.

It just so happened that Matsumoto looked out of the tenth division window at that moment and caught sight of him. He was frozen in front of a pure white winter blossom tree that must have been breathtakingly grand once, but now was only withering away before their eyes.

She rushed out of the building and ran over to him, feeling anguish bubbling up within her to see him so broken. She placed her arms around his shoulders and hugged him gently. They both watched as the flowers all slowly dropped off the tree until the branches were completely bare.

The tree was still for a moment. And they both caught their breath, hoping. But to no avail as the spirit particles started to break away from each other and float away until there was nothing left of the tree that once stood before them. Only a scattering of flowers that lay on the ground near their feet. But soon, the flowers disappeared too.

"_It's alright." _Karin would have told him. _"I'll help you plant a new one. We can watch it grow. And then it'll be our very own winter blossom tree."_

_

* * *

_**Bit on the short side. Sorry. I'll try to do better next time. **

**R&R please!**


	15. Chapter 15

**New Chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Okay. You got your zanpakuto?"

"Yeah."

Yoruichi gave a rueful smile. She liked this Kurosaki way better than Ichigo.

"Well good luck, kid."

Karin forced a nervous smile.

"Thanks. See ya Yoruichi."

"I'll come back and see you when you're whooping everyone else's butt."

Karin grinned.

"You won't have to wait long."

"I know."

Yoruichi turned around and Karin watched her morph quickly into a small black cat. Sparing Karin one last glance, Yoruichi ran off, disappearing amongst all the other buildings.

Karin looked up at the looming building of the examination room. She swallowed her nervousness and felt a grin explode on her face. She was ready to become a shinigami.

Walking confidently into the building, she felt eyes bore into her clothes, her hair, her attitude, her everything. Whispers broke out in the room.

"Oh my god, isn't that Kurosaki Ichigo's little sister?"

"Isn't she supposed to be a human?"

"Maybe it's just a look-alike…"

"No way, can't you tell from the arrogant way she walks?"

"It's Kurosaki Karin alright."

Karin glared at the whisperers.

"Can't you shut up and mind your own businesses?" She screeched at them.

Fuming, Karin walked up to the receptionist. The woman at the desk gave a start of surprise and blinked her eyes a few times.

"N-Name?" She squeaked nervously.

"Karin."

A hushed silence filled the room.

"Last name?"

"I have none."

A frantic scribbling was heard on the examination form as the receptionist hurried to scribble the last name she had written for Karin.

"Purpose?"

The silence and the stares were really starting to bug Karin.

"To become a shinigami." She replied through gritted teeth. Whispers started to fill the room once more.

"O-Okay, Karin-san. Down that hall and though the door on the right."

Karin took the sheet the receptionist gave her and strode quickly down the hall, hoping to avoid any more whispers. The door on the right swung open smoothly as she turned the handle. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

It was a huge room, about the average size of two full soccer fields. The floor was made of cold marble, unbreakable. The walls were made of stone, to avoid as much damage as possible. Only one other person occupied the room. He stood far away from her, on the other side of the room. He turned at the sound of the door opening and closing and gave a soft smile. His face seemed friendly enough and he smiled kindly at her. Karin caught her breath and stood on the spot, not knowing what to do.

"Good morning. May I see your examination sheet, please?"

Karin nodded and walked slowly up to him. It seemed to take forever before she finally reached him. She handed him her sheet and he took it from her. His eyes scanned the sheet quickly and then lifted his eyes from it to look, amused, at her.

"You're not from the school?"

"No."

"Who trained you?"

"Yoruichi-san."

He smiled fondly.

"Ah yes. Yoruichi-san. She is a brilliant teacher and a wonderful friend. Well Karin-chan, let's see just how well she trained you."

Karin felt a smirk spread across her face and the anticipation she always felt before a battle flared within her.

"Let's go." She grinned.

He led her into the centre of the room and they stood facing each other, making no sound. Karin attacked first, unsheathing her sword and bringing it in to slash at him. His hand moved so fast to defend himself that she didn't even see it. She felt the resistance of her sword against another and she realised that he had drawn his sword as well.

Pushing back, she ran in for another attack, successfully slicing off a small piece of fabric off his robe. She attacked again and again, each time never managing to make contact with his skin but occasionally making tears in his clothes.

He pushed back and took a second to examine his robe.

"Hmm. A few tears. You seem to be quite the attacker, Karin-chan."

Karin frowned, impatient for the battle to resume. The man sighed at her expression and grasped his sword harder.

"Let us continue."

This time he attacked, their two swords clanged loudly against each other. Karin stumbled back a step as his riatsu weighed her down. She tried pushing against him but his zanpakuto held hers firmly.

She sighed and gripped her zanpakuto harder.

"Destroy, Kasen Kasai."

Her sword seemed to just melt away, the thick, liquid substance dripping down towards the ground. At the last second it hardened and turned into a thin sword. It gleamed brighter, felt stronger and Karin grinned as she felt Kasen Kasai's power fill her entire body.

The blade shone and reflected light from within, casting the colours of sunset everywhere in the room. The silvery green hilt felt secure beneath her sweaty hands and she felt her blade push successfully away from his. The man gave a broad smile, surprising her.

"Good to see that you have a zanpakuto."

Then he lunged for her, his blade connecting with hers.

"Well, since you've released your shikai," he murmured slowly, "Maybe I should release mine."

He swung his zanpakuto out, in turn pushing her away from him.

"Awaken." He muttered, "Benihime."

…

"Okay, Toshirou. I've got it all planned out. It took me 3 whole days but now it's all good. First, we go through Urahara's Senkai gate. I haven't asked him yet but I'm sure he'll say yes. Stuff the gigai's, we'll go unseen by humans. And then you'll be able to track the victim's riatsu the way you usually find…"

"Oh, hi Kurosaki."

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched uncomfortably.

"You weren't even listening to a word I just said?" He growled.

"No. Unlike you, I was too preoccupied with managing the paperwork for my division."

"Are you calling me irresponsible?"

"I'll bet that Hinamori is in the office right this moment, working herself to death while here you're making a plan to destroy a mere human. If not irresponsible, what would you call that?"

"I would call it loyalty to my sister." Ichigo replied through gritted teeth. "Or don't you care about her anymore?"

Toshirou's eyes widened.

_Getting over Karin. I'm getting OVER her._

"I'm beginning to accept her death and the fact that she will never grace us with her presence again." Toshirou said slowly, choosing his words carefully.

Ichigo frowned, his confused face looking almost comical.

"Grace us with her presence?" He asked sarcastically. Then his face changed, looking almost amused. "Toshirou, did you actually like my sister more than I thought you did?"

Toshirou swore under his breath and glanced away, a red blush tinting his cheeks.

"HahahahaHAHAHAHA!"

"...Kurosaki?"

"HAHA THE" –breath- "ICE. PRINCE." –breath- "HAHAHAHAHA" –breath- "ACTUALLY HAS AHAHAHAHAHA"-breath- "FEELINGS! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Toshirou's eyebrow twitched.

"Kurosaki?"

-snigger- "Yeah?"

"Get lost."

"Oh jeez. Touchy."

"SHUT UP."

"Okay, okay, okay. I'm leaving, see?" he backed out slowly, gesturing with his hands that he was exiting. Toshirou ignored him.

"Remember, Toshirou. I set the date to next week. Friday. Got it?"

Toshirou kept on ignoring him.

"WELL I'LL SEE YOU THEN, SHORTY! DON'T FORGET YOUR ELEMENTARY STUDENT'S UNIFORM!"

Ichigo bolted.

Toshirou froze for a second. Then…

"KUROSAAAAKI!"

…

"Awaken," he muttered, "Benihime."

Karin's eyes widened.

_A sword, gleaming. _

_She ran towards him, her sword at the ready._

_He grinned at her._

_She grinned too; at the opponent she had fought against so many times. This time she was going to WIN._

At this, the memory in her mind fuzzed and blurred until it hurt her head to keep remembering.

_He brought his sword out in front of him._

"_Awaken," he muttered…_

Karin grabbed her head and started screaming. Her head felt like it was about to explode. Information overload. But the memories just came again.

"Benihime"

He said… He had said…

"_Benihime."_

"_Benihime!"_

"_BENIHIME!"_

Karin screamed again, dropping her sword and falling to her knees.

"Stop!" she cried. "It hurts! It hurts!"

The pain began subsiding as the memories stopped flowing into her mind.

"What hurts?"

Karin turned wearily to face the man she had been battling against. He had sealed Benihime as soon as Karin had begun screaming.

"Nothing." She replied quietly. "Let's keep going."

"No. Tell me."

She looked up at him, surprised that he was as concerned as he was.

"My head." She sighed. "It hurts whenever I begin to remember."

"Remember what?"

Karin squeezed her eyes shut and turned away. The silence seemed deafening now.

"My human life." She whispered.

"Oh. _Oh!_"

Karin opened her eyes at the man's surprised exclamation.

"What?" she snapped.

The man gave a huge smile.

"Welcome to the shinigami academy, Kurosaki. And I haven't introduced myself yet. Urahara Kisuke, former captain of the twelth division."

"…"

"While you were reminiscing, I just received a letter explaining that they've changed the rules a little. And I quote from this letter 'Acceptance to the academy is awarded if the candidate has a zanpakuto and manages to harm any of the following parts of the examiner: skin, weapon or clothing. So there you go. You've torn parts of my clothing and that's enough to grant you admission. Though I must say so myself, they're being very lenient nowadays."

"Urahara…Kisuke? I… I know that name… I've heard it… somewhere."

"Have you really?" he asked eagerly.

"Yeah… Oh I know! Are you part of the academy's knitting team?"

"WHAT? No!"

"Oh. Wrong person, sorry."

"No problems! We all make mistakes. It's just a matter of learning to overcome them!" He replied cheerily.

"Umm… okay."

"Well I'll see you later, Kurosaki. Go through these doors over here and then through the very last door on the left. You'll be allocated a position in the Gotei 13 depending on your riatsu and skill in fighting. Goodbye, my dear friend."

Picking her zanpakuto up and sheathing it, Karin walked briskly over to the double doors. She turned and waved to Urahara Kisuke.

"See ya." She said before exiting.

* * *

**Urahara has let Karin get through to the Gotei 13. Who knew that he was going to be the examiner? NOT ME! It was a last minute decision. :P**

**Haha. Okay. Review please!**

**Just one sentence. It's all good. Press the button, right down there.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey.**

**Chapter 16. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Takeda Kichiro had a dream. Like, not a _dream _dream. But… a path that he wanted to take in his future. And the first step was Karin. Karin, the girl who had become his best friend in one week. The girl who he had fallen in love with in one week. The girl who had kicked his butt in soccer with only one weeks training. The girl who had ran off to become a shinigami. Without him.

And he had promised her something. Just before she left. He had promised that she couldn't be in love with someone else.

"_Kichiro…" she'd said before leaving. "I'm in love with someone else."_

And then she had left. Just like that. Like their one week of friendship had meant nothing to her. Like it hadn't of had such an impact on her life like it had on his. So he told her something to her retreating back.

"_Karin…" he had replied. "You're wrong."_

And he was right. She was wrong. She couldn't love somebody when she had no memories left. When she was just new to Soul Society. There was no possible chance that she could be in love.

"Kichiro, please. Don't leave. She's gone. Karin's gone!" His grandmother pleaded. "Don't go."

"Sorry. I…"

"Why do you have to love someone like her? There's plenty other fish in the sea!"

"I…I'm leaving. Bye." He replied hastily, turning away from his grandmother.

"You're throwing it away, Kichiro! You're throwing your life away. For _her. _For somebody that left you. Is she really worth it, Kichiro?"

Kichiro turned back to his grandmother.

"She is worth every cent I have." He replied firmly.

Speechless, his grandmother started crying. No words were needed. The tears were enough. Kichiro's face softened.

"Look, grandma. I'll come back. When I find her. I'll bring her back with me. We can be one whole family. Altogether."

His grandmother smiled softly through her tears.

"I don't approve." She murmured. "But I wish you luck. If she is what you want. What you _really _want, then… good luck. Come back and bring me happiness."

Kichiro gave a nod. Then he left.

…

"Toshirou, you ready?"

Toshirou nodded. He couldn't be more ready. His hands were shaking as he prepared to break one of Seireitei's strongest rules.

"Okay." Ichigo's mouth mashed into a firm hard line. "Let's do this."

Toshirou closed his eyes and started sensing the air around him. They were standing at the road where Karin had been killed. It had been a few days since the truck driver had driven past and the spirit thread would be enormously hard to find.

Ichigo watched cautiously as the shining white spirit threads started materialising around Toshirou. The first ones that appeared were bright and fresh but as they kept on emerging, the ribbons became more and more dull and frail. New and old trails, Ichigo realised.

They stood there for a few minutes, sensing the trail of every single person that had passed the area. Toshirou felt the threads of him and Karin appear, next to each other. Both were a dull red. Blood red. Like Karin's blood as the red liquid flowed from her injuries at the car crash.

_Focus. FOCUS._

There. That one. There it was. The frail white ribbon appeared close to Karin's ribbon and Toshirou's eyelids snapped open as he felt it. The teal orbs flashed angrily and he grabbed hold of the ribbon. Ichigo grinned.

"Alright!" he cheered. "You got it!"

Toshirou nodded.

"Let's go." He replied.

The rest of the ribbons disappeared as they started following the trail of the white ribbon, Toshirou holding onto it securely.

The further they travelled, the brighter the ribbon became. Soon it was almost glowing.

"I got it." Ichigo finally muttered. "I can feel him now."

"He's close."

"Yeah he is. Poor guy."

Toshirou snorted.

"Before you were screaming about how much you despised him. Now you're feeling sorry for him?"

"Habit. I'm a natural good guy."

"In a couple more kilometres" Toshirou said suddenly.

Ichigo grinned.

"He's really going to get it. I can't wait."

"What have you got planned?"

"A bit of fun. You'll see."

They sprinted the last kilometre and finally the man came in view. He was short and stubby with a bit of extra weight around the stomach. He seemed middle aged. In his forties, maybe? He was sitting in an empty parking lot, drinking beer.

Ichigo snorted.

"He looks like an oversized rat."

Toshirou frowned.

"Don't be picky. It wasn't his choice."

"His choice for what? How he looks or to kill Karin?"

"Don't get cocky. Both, actually."

They slowed, and crept close to the man. Even though the man couldn't see them, he could somehow sense their presence and stopped drinking.

"Who's there?" he snapped.

Ichigo winked at Toshirou from beside the man and slowly extended his hand to grasp the beer bottle. He applied pressure and the bottle crushed in his fingers. Ichigo grinned as the man's eyes widened.

"What the…?"

Ichigo ran over to Toshirou.

"Give me your zanpakuto." He hissed.

"What? No!"

"Okay fine. Just give me some ice. Just a little bit."

Toshirou rolled his eyes.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru." He muttered. The sword was immediately encased in ice.

"There you go."

"Thanks."

Ichigo helped himself to a handful and ran back over to the man. He seemed to be willing to leave the empty parking lot and was creeping over to his van, eyes darting everywhere suspiciously. He looked like an idiot.

Ichigo sniggered and rubbed his hands in the ice to freeze them. Once his hands were nice and cold, he ran his fingertips slowly over the man's arm. The man yelped and started swearing as he ran for his van.

"Oh no you don't." Ichigo muttered.

He grabbed hold of the man's arm, his fingers leaving visible marks in the man's skin. The man screamed and tried yanking his arm away, but Ichigo held tight.

Toshirou rolled his eyes. This was getting boring. He took his zanpakuto that was already in its released state and stabbed the man not so subtly in the chest. The man froze, his eyes opened wide and he collapsed in Ichigo's arms, blood seeping out from his wound.

Ichigo looked disgusted and shoved the body out of his arms while pulling Toshirou's zanpakuto from the man's body.

"The hell was that for? I was having fun."

"I wasn't. It was getting boring."

"Yeah well you have no sense of humour."

Toshirou was speechless.

"I do so have a sense of humour!" he retorted.

"You don't. That's why you never laugh. You're so cold, Toshirou. Even your zanpakuto is ice type."

"Shut up, Kurosaki."

"Well I guess you've been a little better since meeting my sister." Ichigo sighed. "She has that effect on people."

Toshirou looked away awkwardly.

Ichigo continued as if talking to himself.

"Once there was this really depressed girl that my sister became friends with. It was kind of amusing really. How she got that girl to come out of her shell. I don't think Karin does it intentionally, it's just like… she radiated happiness."

_Doesn't Kurosaki know when to just SHUT UP? He's passed the line. I can't take this anymore._

Toshirou ran. Ichigo continued like he didn't even notice. He probably didn't notice anyway.

"Oh yeah. Toshirou. I forgot to tell you. I saw Karin. She's been training with Yoruichi. Except she's lost all her memories and…"

Ichigo trailed off as he looked up.

"Eh? Toshirou? That's funny, he must have left without me. Damn bastard."

Ichigo sighed as he started cleaning up the evidence. He cleaned up the blood and dumped the body in the nearest large trash can.

"The trash collectors are going to get a surprise." He snickered.

He opened up a Senkai gate and returned back to Soul Society.

…

The doors opened smoothly at Karin's touch. She walked cautiously into the room. It was filled with people who were waiting to get placed into a division. They all looked excited and nervous as they waited for their results. The leaders at the front of the room were calling out names.

"Shinaji Hanate."

"H-Hai?" A small, blond haired girl stepped forward, blushing deeply.

"4th division."

The girl gave a relieved smile and scampered off to a small group consisting of a few other people who had been chosen for 4th division.

"Karin?"

"Hai!" She said, stepping forward. Another hushed silence filled the room and Karin rolled her eyes. This was going to get annoying.

"Uhh… 6th division."

Karin looked around quickly until a voice from one of the larger groups called out to her.

"Oi! Red head! Over here!"

Karin turned irritably towards the sound.

"The name's Karin." She snapped. Then she paused. "But thanks."

The green haired boy grinned playfully.

"Mines Keiji." He paused too, for effect. "And no problems."

Karin ignored the sniggering from the rest of the group and went to stand at the other end of the group. Everyone else seemed to shy away from her as she approached.

_The hell is wrong with these stupid academy people? _Karin fumed to herself. _One mention of my name makes them die of shock. Okay, maybe not that extreme but close enough. It's not like I've ever met them before anyway. Maybe they're confusing me with some other random person called Karin. But whatever. They shouldn't be that surprised. I mean, Karin's a pretty common name._

The sorting out ended pretty soon and Karin followed the rest of her group as they all shuffled out the exit door. A tall man with spiky brown hair seemed to be leading everybody as they walked out into the open. He turned to the group.

"You guys can all shunpo yeah?"

A chorus of hai's followed the question and he nodded in a satisfied way.

"Good. Well, follow me and try not to fall behind. Anyone who falls behind will get lost here and I'm not going to anything about it."

Without a warning, he suddenly disappeared and many people swore loudly as they lost track of where he had shunpo'ed. Karin saw though. She followed behind him and smirked as she realised many other people were following her lead. They swirled past many buildings and finally stopped outside Seireitei.

"Shit!" Karin breathed. A huge man giant was standing in front of the huge door to Seireitei. His wielded two enormous axes and grinned as he saw their little group appear.

The spiky haired leader nodded at the giant.

"Passing through. New shinigami from the academy."

The giant's face fell and he growled.

"Just when you want a good, healthy fight…" he grumbled to himself as he reached behind him to lift the gate up.

Karin gasped as the gate was lifted and Seireitei was revealed. It was huge! She could tell from the other shocked remarks that she wasn't the only one surprised. The leader smirked and called out to everyone importantly.

"Follow me!"

Karin found herself shunpo'ing directly next to Keiji and she crinkled her nose in distaste as his sweaty stench hit her face. Keiji grinned at her expression.

"Hey red head. You know, you're kinda cute. And I like your attitude. Oh and…"

"And I know I don't give a shit about you." Karin replied. She hated guys like him, so arrogant and up himself. Keiji looked at her in surprise and smirked.

"Huh. Playing hard to get? S'okay. We have forever. I'll get you somehow."

"Could you like… be so kind as to… piss off?" Karin asked him sweetly. "I'm sure there are millions of other girls out there craving your loving attention. I'll miss you, sweetheart."

Keiji grinned.

"Your wish. My command, darling. I'll miss you too." He winked. Then he moved away. Karin's eyes opened wide.

"I was being sarcastic!" She shouted angrily to his backside. "I don't freaking care about you!"

Keiji merely laughed.

"Love you too!" He sniggered.

Karin swore at him.

_I wish all these stupid shinigami would all just leave me alone. Giving me this freaking attention I don't need. Why can't they just treat me normally?_

* * *

**Okay, this chapter kinda had a lot. So basically, Kichiro has set out to find Karin. Ichigo and Toshirou have avenged Karin's murder. Ichigo tried to tell Toshirou that he had seen Karin but Toshirou had already left by the time he had said it. And finally, Karin had been placed in 6th division under Kuchiki Byakuya and this other boy from her division, Keiji, has been trying to hit on her. :S **

**R&R please! Please please tell me anything that I need to improve on. Flames are fine as long as you tell me like... why you hate this story or something. Include a why. **

**Thanks a bunch!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey, sorry for the late update. The computer kind of... broke down and had to get fixed.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**Chapter 17 - Enjoy!**

* * *

"Right. Welcome and I hope you all settle in comfortably. It is a great pleasure to be placed in the 6th division so feel privileged. Also, your barracks are to the left over here. All of you will sleep in this room; you may chose your own bed and the bathrooms are to the right over here. Right. Are we all clear?"

Karin ignored the chorusing hai's and glanced towards her left into the barrack room. It was a dark and gloomy area with only one window with didn't suit her needs at all. The beds were made roughly from layered bamboo and Karin was sure that there were bugs under the covers.

She cursed under her breath and looked around for any other rooms in which she could sleep. There were none in sight and she sighed, hoping that she might get promoted soon, allowing a more comfortable living area. For now, she'd have to deal with this.

The spiky haired man stopped talking for a second and Karin turned to listen to him again.

"Right. So I won't be sleeping here because I'm 13th seat officer and I get a different room to sleep in." she noted how he said room and not barrack. "It's slightly bigger and a bit more… lighter." He smirked. She swore he was going to say better than theirs. But whatever, like she cared. "So if you ever need me, just ask around for room number 548 and I'll most likely be there."

Karin watched Keiji grin. He seemed to be excited to finally be placed under a division. Even his green hair seemed brighter than usual.

"Let's go, people. I own the bed right under the window!"

"Selfish avocado." Karin muttered. She watched as they all streamed into the room, claiming different beds and pushing each other. Karin turned from the messy sight. Choosing a bed could wait. Right now she wanted to explore.

"Hey, emo."

Karin turned irritably to face Keiji.

"What did you call me?" she snarled.

"Sheesh. Chill, dude. I'll stick with red-head if you don't like that one."

"Call me Karin." Karin muttered, turning away from him. She grabbed the hilt of her zanpakuto, ever so careful not to lose it again and shunpo'ed away. She heard Keiji protest behind her but she didn't care. She wanted to get away from everybody and think quietly.

She arrived beneath a small tree and sat down, taking in the peace and tranquillity of the place. It was a small, forgotten garden; secluded from the rest of the buildings and littered with weeds and small flowers. It must have once been beautiful, Karin noted, but now had large weeds and thorns sticking out from each crack in the earth. It would need some work, but Karin was sure she could manage to restore it back to its previous state.

A rustling came from behind a small bush and Karin jumped up, hand resting on the hilt of zanpakuto, her stance one of self-defence. The bush parted to reveal a bright green mop of hair and large, grey eyes.

Karin scoffed in annoyance and sat down again, turning away as Keiji pulled himself through the small bush and stood in front of her.

"What do you want?" Karin snapped at him.

He in turn looked offended and sat down next to her.

"Nothing I… I just wanted to see where you disappeared off to."

Karin didn't reply and Keiji looked around for something to say. He glanced at the tree that they were sitting beneath.

"Winter blossoms." He said in surprise.

"What?" Karin turned and Keiji smiled as he caught her attention.

"Winter blossoms are special types of trees." He told her, pulling off a flower and giving it to her to smell. "In Soul Society when it is time for a winter blossom tree to pass away, first the flowers fall until the branches are completely bare. Then, slowly the tree starts to just… disappear, turning into spirit particles that just float away."

Karin clutched the bright, snow coloured flower and sniffed it again.

"It smells like home." She smiled softly. "Like a familiar smell when you just expect somebody to walk through the door and announce 'I'm home!'"

"Funny. I always thought that it smelt more like a waterfall. When you're out in the wild open and you come across and fresh, clean waterfall."

"Strange." Karin murmured. "My friend's grandmother used to always tell me stories about winter blossoms. She said that when you see one die before your very eyes, it means that you have lost somebody very close to your heart."

Now that she thought about it, Karin realised with guilt that she still hadn't gone back to visit Kichiro and his sweet grandmother. She would go soon, she decided firmly. Maybe tomorrow…

Keiji yawned and lay onto his back.

"That's true." He said quietly. "I watched the winter blossom in our front yard disappear after my parents' death."

Karin lay back too and she immediately curled herself into a ball, bringing her legs up into her chest. She lay on her side, facing away from Keiji.

"I once loved a teal eyed boy with hair like the snow." She murmured quietly.

Keiji turned to glance at her back.

"Do you still love him?"

Karin sighed. "I don't know. I guess not. I haven't even seen him properly before. He's like a memory in my head that I can't get rid of. But I can never see him properly either, it kills my head to try and remember him. And I guess I've just given up trying, I can't hold onto a memory of him and love him. It just doesn't feel right."

"Human… memories?" he murmured. "That's really… rare."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For hitting on you."

Karin huffed. Suddenly feeling regretful that she had told him about the boy.

"You just have to bring that up again. I really can't stress this enough can I? I don't like you."

"Yeah." Keiji looked away. "I know."

Karin turned and glanced at him. His face was masked and his lips were mashed into a thin, hard line. His grey eyes for once didn't hold any jokes in them.

Karin grumbled angrily to herself.

_I can't believe I'm going to do this. _She thought irritably.

"Keiji." She muttered. "Can you be my friend, please? I don't want you as anything more but… a friend."

Keiji's mouth erupted into an ear splitting grin and Karin felt a little better.

"Yeah." He said. "I can do that."

…

"Hey, taicho."

"Matsumoto."

Matsumoto glanced at him suspiciously.

"Where were you last night? I had to do all your paperwork for you."

"Did you?"

"Well, no. But that's beside the point. Where did you go?"

"Nowhere."

Matsumoto sighed angrily.

"Look, taicho. I know I've always put up with your meanness but today I really can't take it. I don't care if Karin's gone from your organised little world but you need to get a life. Stop moping and being all emotionless. Seriously. Get over her."

"We're dead, Matsumoto. We're souls. I cannot exactly _get a life."_

Matsumoto threw her hands up in the air.

"You're impossible." She screeched in irritation. "Just… go out. Get out of here. Please."

"Matsumoto, I-"

"Just go!"

Toshirou sighed in annoyance. He really didn't have time for her ranting today.

"Fine. I'll be back in a few hours."

She didn't reply and he sighed again, each outtake of breath making him seem more and more like an old man who had completely lost everything from his life. The white hair complemented the image perfectly.

Toshirou shunpo'ed past all the buildings, looking for a quiet place to sit down and relax. He reached the 6th division buildings and shunpo'ed into the gardens, knowing that they were usually quiet considering that the 6th division hated gardening. Turning past a large green overgrown hedge, he heard the voice of a girl talking quietly to somebody else.

"-and I guess I just really want to find a place where I can actually fit in. I don't need friends, really. I just want to feel safe and secure. I want to know who I was, you know?"

Toshirou walked curiously over to the voice, noting that it seemed kind of familiar. He turned past a small patch of weeds and stepped on a twig. It cracked loudly beneath his foot and he winced, knowing that they would be able to hear.

Sure enough, the voices stopped abruptly.

"Who's there?" the girl demanded cautiously.

Toshirou stepped out with no expression on his face and turned to face them.

"Who are you?" he asked coldly to the boy and girl sitting before him.

The girl narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's my line. You intruded on us."

"Do not speak to someone in a higher position than you like that."

The girl's dark eyes flared and she stood up, keeping her ground, unaffected by his cold demeanour.

"You arrogant son of a MMPH!"

The boy slapped a hand across her mouth and gave Toshirou an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Hitsugaya taicho. She does not know her manners. I'm so sorry if we were in your way. We will leave immediately."

He bowed rather awkwardly, whilst pushing her down to bow too. She struggled around under his arm but he held firm and she resorted to glaring at the both of them.

Toshirou watched them coldly until they left.

…

Keiji dragged them both through a bush backwards until they were standing in another garden. Then he released Karin.

"The hell was that for!" they both yelled simultaneously.

Karin snorted and glared at him.

"That son of a bitch!" She fumed. "He thinks he's so much better than us even though we were clearly there first!"

Keiji smacked her in the face.

"The hell Karin!" he yelled. "He's a taicho! You have to pay respect to them! Do you know the consequences if you don't?"

"I know he's a taicho!" she screeched back at him. "I bumped into him last time when I still at the academy. But I don't freaking CARE what rank he's at. He's so up himself."

Keiji glared at her. But Karin only rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Fine." She muttered. "Why don't you go and worship the floor he stands on and bow to him every chance you get, huh? Why not wipe his ass while you're at it! I'm leaving."

She turned and shunpo'ed off furiously.

"Karin! Do you have no shred of respect at all? Come back here!"

Keiji shunpo'ed after her, yelling curses as he left.

…

Toshirou was frozen.

_"That son of a bitch!" She screamed. "He thinks he's so much better than us even though we were clearly there first!"_

That red headed girl. The one he had bumped into last time…

_"The hell Karin!" The other boy yelled. "He's a taicho! You have to pay respect to them! Do you know the consequences if you don't?"_

Karin.

Karin!

**KARIN!**

_Calm. _Toshirou told himself. _It might not be her. It could just be a coincidence. Just a coincidence. There's plenty girls called Karin. Plus, she's a red head. Karin had black hair. Karin had short black hair. That wasn't Karin. No. No it wasn't._

But then again, it could've been.

…

Ichigo turned to the sound of the door slowly opening. Momo stood there, watching him nervously.

"T-Taicho?" she squeaked.

"What is it, Hinamori?"

"I-I was just wondering if… if you wanted some watermelon."

Ichigo widened his eyes in surprise.

"Umm… sure."

"Okay!" Momo brightened up immediately and pulled out a huge basket from behind her back. "They're fresh, you know. My grandma sends fresh watermelon to me each month and she sent too much this time and I was thinking of whom I could share it with. I thought of Hitsugaya-taicho but he's…"

Momo paused.

"He's grieving. And so I thought hey, why not share it with taicho?"

She sat down, still chattering away and pulled out a huge fresh slice of watermelon and gave it to Ichigo. Ichigo took it slowly and began to eat.

"I knew that you'd like watermelon once I'd seen the colour of your hair and then I got really nervous. I was thinking oh what if he doesn't like watermelon after all. But of course you did. That was just silly of me, wasn't it?"

Ichigo didn't reply and Momo glanced at him worriedly.

"Taicho?"

"Hmm?"

"A-Are you feeling alright?"

Ichigo looked at Momo tiredly.

"Yeah." He said. "I'm just… worried, you know?"

Momo smiled comfortingly.

"It's okay. I'm right here for you, Aizen taicho."

_Aizen taicho…_

**Aizen taicho…**

"Aizen…" Momo murmured sleepily. "Aizen taicho… I'm here for you."

Momo slumped to the ground, her eyes rolling back into her head. Ichigo didn't react and he fell to the ground a second later.

* * *

**R&R please!**

**Virtual cookies to those who review.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey. Late update again, I know. I'll try to not get into the habit.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**Well here's the new chapter. The one you've been waiting for. When Toshirou and Karin reunite!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Toshirou ran over to the 5th division. It was Karin! He had to talk to somebody. Someone trustworthy. Matsumoto was out of the question.

"Momo," he muttered. "Please be here."

He opened the door of the 5th division office and peered inside.

Two motionless bodies lying on the floor.

A half eaten bowl of watermelon.

His eyes widened.

"Momo!" he yelled in panic, running over to her limp body on the floor. "Momo! Wake up!"

A shadow fell across the light from the open doorway. He stiffened and turned slowly to face the newcomer.

"What the hell happened in here?" the voice cut through the atmosphere. Dark eyes widened as they surveyed the room.

He gaped in horror at the person standing there.

"Karin?" he said in shock.

She ran over to Ichigo, completely ignoring him.

"The orange-berry?" she exclaimed. "What the hell happened here?"

"Are-Are you Karin?" he asked quietly, hoping against hope that she'd say yes.

"How" she turned towards him suspiciously "Did you know my name?"

His eyes widened and he stared at her in relief, joy, shock and absolute horror.

"Karin…" he murmured, feeling such strong emotions building up within him. "It's you. It's really… you're KARIN."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"So what?" she said defensively, "I'm Karin. Why would you care?"

It was expected for her to not remember. Her memories were all bleached, all forced away from her mind. But it still kind of hurt him inside to have her talk so cautiously to him. Like he was a complete stranger.

He gazed into her midnight blue eyes and saw the familiar sparkle of life in it. At least that hadn't of been lost.

"Karin…" he murmured. "Do you not remember me? Remember us?"

…

_She had loved a boy with hair like the freshly fallen snow and brilliant teal eyes that had always had a shine to them, even when he was scowling._

_He had the softest, most caring personality she had ever known. Not to others, of course. But just to her. And she liked it that way._

_He was short and she always liked to tease him about it. Elementary student, she had once called him. He had scowled at her, of course and refused to answer to the stupid nickname but she found it so amusing to watch._

_He had left her._

_No._

_She had left him._

_No._

_They had left each other and he disappeared from her mind altogether._

_But she still __**loved him.**_

Karin stared in shock at the taicho in front of her.

"To-Toshirou?" she asked in disbelief, feeling the taste of his name on her tongue and marvelling at the familiarity of it.

She watched in surprise as his face glowed up like a Christmas tree when you turned all the lights on and he gave her the largest smile.

"Karin." He breathed. "Do you remember?"

She placed a finger on her lips to tell him to shush and then closed her eyes and reminisced.

-o-

_"You will help me though, won't you? You'll help me remember." She said._

_Toshirou closed his eyes and silently nodded once. Karin grinned._

_"You don't have to act so upset Toshirou. Sure, I lose my memories, but I'll still have my feelings, won't I? I'll still know what I felt as a human. "_

-o-

_As he wasn't in his gigai, Karin made no sign to acknowledge his presence and just kept walking forwards. Toshirou fell into step beside her. As they walked, he healed her arm with basic kidou. She waited until they were out of earshot to turn and glare at him._

_"You're sorry! Ha! So you just think two simple words can cure the heartache and betrayal I've had for the past 5 years? You left me. I accepted that but then you never returned. Do you know the pain you caused me? Do you know that I eagerly waited each night for your return?"_

_"Karin..."_

_"You promised, Toshirou! You promised!"_

-o-

_"Toshirou, I-I think... that I..." She looked up at him pleadingly, trying to get him to understand. "I... love you."_

_Toshirou felt his eyes widen as she said these words._

_"Karin..." He looked straight into her eyes. "That's what I wanted to tell you. I love you too."_

_Karin stared at him._

_"You do?"_

_"Yes. Yes, I do."_

-o-

She opened her eyes and gave him she hugest smile she could possibly give.

"I remember." She said simply. Then she turned back to the motionless bodies of Ichigo and Momo.

"So…" she pointed to Ichigo "This would be my idiot of a brother."

Toshirou jumped and Karin stifled a chuckle as she realised that he had completely forgotten about them.

He lifted Momo gingerly in his arms and stood up. She felt a quick stab of jealousy as she saw his obvious affection to her but quickly got over it. Momo was his _sister._ Well… not technically but you get the point.

"Oi, Toush." He turned around but couldn't get too irritated at her new nickname. She pointed at the limp body of Ichigo. "There is no way in hell I'm carrying that big lump."

Toshirou smirked.

"I'll send a hell butterfly." He said. "The 4th division can carry him. Meanwhile, why don't you come with me while I take Momo back to the 4th division?"

She nodded and sighed in relief. '

"Yeah. I will." She said.

…

Kichiro felt like flying.

He had joined the shinigami academy and was progressing rapidly. Soon, his sensei had said, he would be able to go for the examination of the Gotei 13. Thank god for that unknown human girl who warned Soul Society of the Winter War II. If it weren't for her, he would never have been able to go for the examination this early on.

And when he got into the Gotei 13, he would be able to see Karin again. The one girl who was meant to be in his future. The girl who he was going to spend the rest of his existence with.

And he knew that there was no doubt about that.

The bell rang; a loud, shrill, piercing whistle. Kichiro grinned, his next class was kidou and he knew that he could ace that with his eyes closed.

"Oi, Kichiro!" A small girl with huge purple eyes and soft brown hair tugged at his arm. "Let's go now. We got kidou. I swear I'll be able to beat you this time."

Kichiro smirked at her. Her huge personality contrasted largely with her small appearance but he knew that this small girl could beat any bully any day with her eyes closed and her hands tied behind her back.

"No way." He replied. "I can still whip your ass at kidou and you know it, Lori,"

Lori gave a smirk of her own.

"We'll see." She said.

They both ran towards the oval, laughing and screaming playfully.

* * *

**R&R please!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey!**

**This is the last chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I will never own Bleach.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Karin glanced worriedly at the young girl lying motionlessly on the bed. Her brown hair splayed messily across the pillow and her mouth was open in a small 'o' of horror.

Momo.

She turned in surprise as a rustling noise came from behind her and she came face to face with her orange haired brother.

"I-Ichigo?"

He looked at her, shocked.

"You know who I am?"

She turned from him to face Momo again and murmured quietly, seemingly to herself and not to him.

"I-I saw Toshiro and… I remembered."

He scoffed.

"And you saw me and nothing happened? Great. Just great. I feel bloody awesome now, thanks Karin."

The door burst open and Toshirou walked in, noting the new presence of Ichigo.

"Kurosaki," he walked straight over to the orange haired strawberry, "Tell me exactly what happened. I must report this to the soutaicho immediately. There might be a new danger in Soul Society."

Ichigo frowned.

"I don't recall anything important. The last I remember was that Momo invited me to eat watermelon with her. And then it all went black."

Toshirou frowned.

"A spiked watermelon, perhaps? Or maybe subtle sleeping powder released through the air vents?"

He turned to glare at Ichigo angrily.

"For a captain level shinigami, how did you not feel the presence of the danger within the watermelon or somewhere nearby?"

Ichigo merely rolled his eyes.

"Geez. Thought you already knew that my tracking and sensing skills aren't exactly on par with a captains."

Karin widened her eyes in sudden realisation.

"Wait a sec, guys. Remember in the human world? How I said that there was a Winter War II coming up?"

Toshirou nodded slowly, not seeming to grasp what she was saying.

"I think… I think Aizen spiked the watermelon. It was to create a tiny distraction for Soul Society to… SHIT!"

They all seemed to get her as soon as she said this and all three of them bolted for the door.

They shunpo'ed outside to meet themselves face to face with chaos and destruction. It seemed that Aizen hadn't of wanted to wait for any longer for the ambush to begin.

Countless shinigami were lying, motionless on the ground, blood pouring from several wounds in their body. Karin had no doubt that they were all dead. She tore her eyes away from the disgusting sight and bared her teeth in anger.

"Freaking morons. Ill teach them a thing or two." She placed a hand upon the hilt of her sword and shunpo'ed off to find an opponent to battle.

A flustered looking Hanatarou appeared before Toshirou, bowing and murmuring profuse apologies.

"I am so sorry, Hitsugaya taicho, Kurosaki taicho. The ambush arrived so much more sooner than we expected so we had no time to warn you. Could you please inform all the other divisions so that they can join the fight?"

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"I'll go." He murmured quietly. "Thanks, Hanatarou."

As he was about to shunpo off, his way was barred by Toshirou's restraining arm.

"No. Don't go, Kurosaki. Go help your sister to fight. We need your fighting skills. So go out there and kill them all."

Ichigo glanced in surprise at Toshirou. Then he grinned.

"Thanks, Toshirou."

Toshirou merely nodded and disappeared, shunpo'ing to all the other divisions.

…

Karin ran around, desperately trying to find an opponent to fight. No luck. It seemed as though everyone was busy fighting their own opponents. She glanced to her right and stifled a scream as she saw Keiji getting sliced up by an Arrancar.

"Keiji!"

He didn't seem to hear her. The Arrancar smirked as he saw an opening and he charged straight at Keiji. Karin shot forwards and blocked his attack at the very last second.

"K-Karin?" he mumbled, not seeming to be able to speak properly. Blood was pouring uncontrollably from several deep gashes in his upper body.

"Keiji!" she screamed at him. "Keiji, wake up! Damn! I need to get you to the 4th division fast."

'Fight…" his eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped into her arms.

"Keiji!" she yelled, shaking him. "Wake up!"

The Arrancar seemed to know nothing about fair play. He grinned at her momentary distraction and charged again, this time successfully cutting Karin straight across the left arm.

Karin yelled angrily and swore at him. She placed Keiji carefully on the ground and swung her blade across the hollow's body. As usual, her aim was perfect and the Arrancar gave a roar of anger as it disappeared.

Karin re-sheathed her zanpakuto and picked up Keiji again.

"Somebody!" she screamed. "Help me out here!"

Everyone seemed immersed in their own fights and didn't seem to hear her as she carried on. Keiji was losing blood fast. If she didn't get some medical help soon then he would end up just like the other people lying on the ground; completely lifeless.

She shunpo'ed over to the nearest building and sighed in relief as she caught sight of Hanatarou.

"Yamada Hanatarou!" she yelled at him. "Take Keiji back to the 4th division and make sure he gets fully recovered!"

Hanatarou nodded vigorously and eyed the cut on her arm in concern.

"Would you like me to quickly tape that arm up as well?" he asked.

"No! Just take Keiji! Quickly!"

"H-Hai!"

She watched him run as fast as he could back to the 4th division and turned back to the fight.

She saw Toshiro and Ichigo and all her other friends fighting. Some were wounded and some were dying. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair. She watched in despair as Soifon was knocked down and beaten up.

Karin bit her lip and joined in their fights, trying desperately, like all the other shinigami, to defend Soul Society and stop Aizen's invasion.

…

"How is he?"

"Not so good… I think… I think his heart rate is slowing down."

Shit.

She was too late.

Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep.

The blood pressure machine was beeping quietly in the background, painstakingly informing Karin just how many heartbeats Keiji had left.

Beep-beep. Beep-beep.

Beeeeeeeeep.

The beeps stopped and Karin froze, hoping desperately that it was just the machine breaking down on her. But she could hear the faint quiet buzzing, signalling that the machine was still working fine.

"Keiji." She whispered.

His breathing came to an abrupt halt and he froze too. She could see him subconsciously trying to take another breath. His chest hitched up, throat unable to take any more air in. A silent struggle raged on within his body but soon, he gave in. His body slumped back down onto the bed, completely lifeless.

"Keiji!" She shook him. "Wake up, Keiji!"

Because she didn't want to believe that she had been the one that had ended his life. She didn't want to live with the guilt that if she had been a few minutes earlier, the whole existence of another shinigami would haven't have been lost.

Toshiro stood silently beside her, their hands clasped together. She buried her face in his chest and cried for all the lost ones, all the people who had died to protect their world.

He placed a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. But there was nothing he could do, really. She turned her tear-stained face to the side and held him close to her. He was all she could need for the moment, and that was probably enough.

…

Kichiro ran over to the 4th division. He had been fighting in the war too, though he didn't get paired with anyone major. He returned victorious, boastfully claiming that he had killed at least 15 huge hollows.

"Lori, come on!" he shouted to the brown haired shinigami beside him.

"Do you not see me shunpo'ing as fast as I can here?"

Kichiro grinned.

"Maybe your shunpo just isn't fast enough for me."

Lori snorted.

"Don't boast, big guy. You know I can whip you any day in kidou."

"That was a one time thing, Lori. Don't get too excited."

Lori shrugged.

"We're here." She said simply.

He glanced in front of him at the large building and grimaced.

"Lets go in and see just how many comrades we lost."

He pushed open the door and they went inside.

"Holy crap!" Lori's eyes were wide as she inspected the incomprehensible amount of people.

Kichiro tore his eyes away from a groaning red haired shinigami lying on the floor with blood streaming down his face and glanced up.

He froze.

It-It was _her_.

Her tear-streaked face was facing his way and her eyes were closed. He could clearly see that she was distraught and in pain. His heart thudded irregularly and he wanted to reach out and hold her, to ease her pain.

He glanced away from her face and looked up.

Damn.

Damn.

Dammit!

How could she be already taken? The young man holding her had pure white hair that seemed to defy gravity and piercing teal eyes. He was stroking her shoulder and murmuring softly to her.

Kichiro felt jealousy flare within him and he stormed over to them.

"Kichiro!" Lori yelled. "What are you doing?"

At the mention of his name, Karin opened her eyes and shock flashed across her face when she recognised him.

"Kichiro?"

The young man (her boyfriend) stepped in front of her and Kichiro realised with a sinking heart that he was a captain.

"You-You never visited…" he said lamely, all those starter sentences he had rehearsed earlier fled his mind.

"I-I never found the time to." She murmured, grabbing the hand of the teal eyes young man. "I was… busy."

Lori walked over to them.

"Who are you?" she said sharply, standing defensively by Kichiro's side. Karin gave a weak smile.

"I'm Karin Kurosaki." She offered. "But just call me Karin. I'm from the 6th division and this is my boyfriend, Toshiro Hitsugaya. He's the 10th division taicho."

"Ku-Kurosaki?" Kichiro stuttered.

Karin smiled wistfully. "My human name."

"You… remember?" he replied in awe, staring at Karin in hopeless longing.

Lori blinked.

"You weren't by any chance, verbally harming or harassing Kichiro, were you?"

Kichiro turned bright red and Karin laughed, a joyous sound that reverberated through the walls.

"Is that your _girlfriend, _Kichiro?" she teased, grinning.

Kichiro turned even redder, if it were possible.

"Well… umm… YES! That's my girlfriend!"

Lori turned bright red too and soon, they both resembled seafood lobsters. Karin laughed again and turned to Toshiro.

"Let's leave them two alone." She grinned. "I have you."

They walked away, out of the room full of decaying bodies and sat down in the grass, holding each other close.

Lori turned to Kichiro.

"Why the hell did you tell that woman that I was your girlfriend?" she demanded.

Kichiro looked away.

"Well… I didn't think that you'd mind?"

Lori smiled shyly, blushing for the first time in her life.

"Let's just say I don't particularly mind being your girlfriend." She grinned, taking his hand in hers.

Kichiro smirked.

"Good. Then I won't mind being your boyfriend either."

They held each other's hands and ran outside together, laughing at their somewhat oddly newfound relationship.

…

Karin lay back onto Toshiro's chest, watching the sun sink deeper into the afternoon sky. They weren't rejoicing, for when you've lost a friend, you cannot ever bring yourself to rejoice. Instead, they watched contentedly as countless winter blossom trees shed their own tears and let their flowers fall.

The silent shimmering sound could be felt all across Soul Society as millions upon millions of the stunning snow-white trees ended their own existences, dissipating and ceasing to exist. And some people looked on in wonder, not knowing the infamous story of the winter blossom trees; how they dematerialised at the loss of a loved one.

They laughed simultaneously as they saw Ichigo, the idiot, holding Rukia bridal style and running like a crazed maniac across the grass in front of them. It was about time too.

"It's a shame, though." Toshiro murmured. "Losing so many lives, and so many trees. I doubt that we have one single winter blossom left in the whole of Soul Society."

"I don't need any winter blossoms." Karin replied softly, turning to face him, grinning. "I've got you. You are my winter blossom. And the best thing is, when we lose a loved one, you wont fade and disappear. You'll be by my side, for the rest of my existence."

Toshiro hugged her against him nodded against her shoulder.

"And that," he concluded, "Is absolutely correct."

She smiled and basked in his loving embrace.

This feeling… it didn't feel too unfamiliar.

"Maybe… maybe I've loved you before. In another time and another life." She said, pulling a piece of grass out of the earth and playing with it. "I feel like this isn't my first time loving you. Apart from the human thing, of course."

He turned her shoulders to face him and looked her dead straight in the eyes.

"When I tell you that I love you." He said firmly. "I mean that I'll love you. For not only the rest of my existence, but I'll continue to love you for any future life I lead. I will have loved you before, in another time, another place. We are meant to be, Karin. It does not matter at all which life we are living. We will always be together."

Karin gazed at him and smirked.

"Man, my boyfriends good." She muttered quietly to herself before turning and settling down on him again.

Toshiro smirked too.

"I love you, Karin."

* * *

**R&R everyone!**

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**:D**

**That's it, guys.**


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